Built in the 1930s by Tiger Balm tycoon Aw Boon Haw to promote Chinese culture as well as his brand of pain-relieving ointment, Hong Kong’s Tiger Balm Garden, in Tai Hang, was a sprawling park with a white pagoda and colourful statues surrounding an eye-catching mansion. The garden was demolished for a housing development in 2004 but Haw Par Mansion was preserved, and opened in 2019 as a music academy.
It closed again three years later, but is now being transformed into Hong Kong’s first “cultural villa”. Led by the Foundation for Art and Culture, the self-financing, non-profit project will reimagine the Grade 1 historic site – rechristened Villa Haw Par – as a destination for artistic exchange, public engagement and cross-cultural dialogue.
The transformation will be unveiled in phases from September and result in research, exhibition and immersive spaces as well as a teahouse and a cinema programme celebrating Hong Kong’s cultural legacy.
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