Monday, May 21, 2012

Haw Par’s House of Jade

Posted by noelbynature

Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Paw might be familiar names because of the Haw Par Villa and gardens in Pasir Panjang, as well as their famous Tiger Balm (Tiger Balm Gardens being the other name of the villa), but have you ever associated their names with Jade? Not a person, but rather the precious stone Nephrite or Jadeitite. The Aw brothers once held a large collection of jade, displayed in a house in Nassim Road. It was aptly named ‘The House of Jade’.


yg remembers visiting the House of Jade sometime in the 60s or 70s:

the jade collection, which was priceless and quite unique, had taken more than 50 years to assemble through the joint efforts of the aw brothers, aw boon haw and aw boon par. it was housed in one of the aw mansions at nassim road, off orchard road.

the jade pieces, arranged in numerous cabinets, represented every important dynasty of china.

Alas, the House of Jade stands no more and was demolished in the 80s to make way for a condominium. Guess who has the jade now? yg has the answer.

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