The Hotel Estoril seen from the Tap Seac Square
Participants in a debate about the revitalization plan that intends to turn the abandoned Hotel Estoril into a youth recreational center said that the building, or at least its façade, should be preserved.
The government held its first Hotel Estoril briefing session for the general public yesterday at the Tap Seac Sports Pavilion. Nearly all speakers who contributed called on the authorities to preserve the decrepit building.
Contrary to the government’s downplaying of the structure’s historical and architectural value, participants voiced a necessity to retain through the hotel a layer of the city’s gaming history as well as its modern architectural spectrum.
Citizen Mr Lei indicated that Macau’s development has always relied on the gaming industry, and the Hotel Estoril was the first casino in Macau and China that introduced Western style gambling. “Now [if] you demolish this building, this story will be erased.”
In response to the Cultural Institute (IC) official’s statement that the Hotel Estoril is less significant than the Hotel Lisboa in historical value, the young man criticized the IC for “destroying culture rather than promoting and preserving it.” “You need to wake up! Stop considering demolishing it; it’s [a question of] how to maximize the limited space that you should think about,” he refuted.
Local engineer Mr Chan added, “I’m born and raised in Macau. Every time when a foreign friend came to Macau, they would ask where the first modern casino was, and I would always take them to Hotel Estoril instead of Hotel Lisboa, because that was where our history of a proud GDP initiated.”
Public affairs commentator Wong Tong also stated: “The decision of whether to demolish the building should be based on whether Macau still has the same style of architecture, whereas the hotel is the only one of its kind that still exists now.”
Mr Wong further suggested setting up a historical museum for the local gaming industry in the revamped building, which was echoed by other speakers. In response, the Chief of Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Lai Ieng Kit, as one of the government’s representatives, recognized that “it is an idea worth being noted.”
Architect Maria José de Freitas also argued that it’s feasible to revamp the decrepit building, and successful examples have been given by the Houses-Museum in Taipa’s old town. “Adaptive reuse is the way to keep qualified both the building and the history. (…) You kept changing the functions; but there’s no need to put all functions together in this building. The criteria should be preserving the façade and studying what kinds of activity can be included,” she suggested.
Amongst the speakers, a German tourist said that he accidentally discovered the swimming pool and “the special architecture,” one he felt necessary to attend the public session to advocate protection for. “This is a special face of Macau, it would be such, such a shame to lose it,” declared the visitor.
The speakers also emphasized that the revitalization plan would become a failure if the planners tried to incorporate various functions in it rather than picking the most suitable ideas.
“It is impossible to accommodate all functions into the 2,352 square meters. For instance, instead of setting up a youth information center with computers, we could open an artistic bookstore,” suggested local movie director Vincent Hoi.
“Apparently our government imagines there are only two kinds of cultural venues the youngsters need: one is for doing sports, the other is the fancy theater,” suggested another speaker, Ms Ma.
“Such kind of large-scale facilities are also exclusive where people may keep a distance when passing by them. We need to ask what the revitalization of the Hotel Estoril is for and how revitalized it could be; (…) when we think of what kind of culture the young people need, we can’t just imagine them as a group of kids that can afford [fine art] or just going there to do sports,” she stressed.
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