| The Helena May main building | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 梅夫人婦女會主樓 | ||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | Mùih fū yàhn fúh néuih wúih jyú làuh | ||||||||
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The Helena May main building is a declared monument of Hong Kong home to the Helena May, a private member club located at No. 35 Garden Road, in Central of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.[1] The present-day building structure remains largely[how?] unchanged from its original building structure from 1914.
Constructed in 1914, the building was officially opened on 12 September 1916 by Lady May, daughter of Lieutenant General George Digby Barker, British Commanding Officer in China and Hong Kong from 1890 to 1895, as a respite for unaccompanied women arriving in Hong Kong.[2] In 1891, Helena Barker married Sir Francis Henry May, who would become Governor of Hong Kong in 1912. [3]
During World War II, the building was occupied by Axis Japanese forces and later requisitioned by the Royal Air Force at the end of the war until 1947.[2]
In 1985, The Helena May started accepting male members.
