Hong Kong’s Antiquities Authority has added three more historic buildings to its list of protected monuments, raising the number of protected sites in the city to 129.
Announced on Friday, the declared monuments include a former teacher training school in Sai Ying Pun, a defunct police station in Tai Po from the 19th century, and a rebuilt Ming-dynasty era temple in Sha Tau Kok.
The building that now serves as the Bonham Road Government Primary School was built in the early 1940’s.
Before it became a primary school in 2000, it had housed the city’s first teacher training centre and functioned as the headquarters of the Japanese Military Police during World War II.
“The main building has been serving educational purposes since it was completed in 1941 and is a rare surviving example of school premises that have served both primary and tertiary institutions,” the announcement read.
The second addition, the Old Tai Po Police Station, was the first police station and headquarters to be established in the New Territories at the beginning of Britain’s 99-year-lease over the region.
Built in 1899, it is the oldest surviving police station in the territory. It has been revitalised as the “Green Hub” under a government scheme to promote conservation and sustainability.
The third site, Hip Tin Temple, was rebuilt in the mid-1890’s to replace a Ming-dynasty era temple to the Chinese deity Kwan Tai. The government cited the temple’s “significant historical value to the economic development” to the local community.
“[It] is one of the few surviving main temples associated with the Tung Wo Market operated by the village alliance Shap Yeuk, which dominated the economy of the Sha Tau Kok area from the 1830s to the 1930s.,” a government statement read.
The government can block and impose alterations it deems necessary to protected declared monuments.
Hong Kong has 1,444 historic buildings, 1,154 of which have been declared graded heritage buildings under government protection. Other declared monuments include Tin Hau temple in Causeway Bay and King’s College in the Mid-levels.
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