Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the owner of the building, decided to demolish it and redevelop the site into a religious cum education center in July 2002. Because of public objection to the demolition, the church agreed to enter into negotiation with the Government in late 2002. However, there was no breakthrough in the negotiation after a year. CA wrote a letter to the headquarters of the church in Salt Lake City, USA and facilitated the consensus between the Government and the owner of Kom Tong Hall in late February 2003. The Government acquired Kom Tong Hall at a cost of $53 million and converted it into Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum. We believed that this win-win situation is indeed what we cherish. The success has shown the community’s higher value towards our heritage.
Built in 1914 by the younger brother of Eurasian tycoon Sir Robert Ho Tung, Ho Kom Tong, the building consists of three floors with granite pillars and wrought-iron balconies on the 2nd and 3rd floors. It retained the class-conscious of the traditional society – two stairs cases, one for the use Ho's family and the other solely for servants.
Kom Tong Hall
In 1959 the house was first sold and in 1971 the Mormon Church acquired the building and used it until 2004. The mansion was declared grade two historical building in 1990 by the Antiquities Advisory Board.
