Gap Road School [????-????]

Submitted by David on Mon, 11/28/2016 - 16:53
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists

I found a few mentions of the school in the 1960 thesis "Educational development in post-war Hong Kong":

[...] On 31st December, 1939, there were [...] ten Government English primary schools. Peak School, Quarry Bay School and Kowloon Junior School admitted Europeans exclusively. The other seven English schools (as they were so called in pre-war years, and now more appropriately called Anglo-Chinese Schools) were Ellis Kadoorie School with 497 boys, Wantsai School, Yaumati School, Gap Road School, with a total of 1,078 Chinese boys; Taipo School (127) and Cheung Chau School (87) in the rural districts; and Ellis Kadoorie Indian School with 203 Indian boys. In addition, 472 girls were educated in the primary classes of Belllios Public School. (19) [...]

[...] According to the first survey of the damage resulted from the war, occupation and bombing, it was estimated that the overall damage to housing property averaged about 15%; while in some districts, and notably those which had housed European residents, Government offices and institutions, the average was as high as 60%, due to a combination of the effects of neglect, looting, bombing and fire. (1) [...] Saiyingpun School and Gap Road School were seriously damaged. [...]

[...] In the years 1949-50 and 1950-51, $2,860,000 and $6,004,355 were expended on re-building Queen's College, King's College primary School, Gap Road Primary School and Kowloon Junior School. [...]

[...] Thus in the years 1950-51 and 1951-52, only two Government schools were under construction. These were the Morrison Hill Road, the former Gap Road, Government School and the Kowloon Junior School which cost $600,000 and $710,000 respectively. ( 5 ) [...]

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Photos that show this Place

Happy Valley, Causeway Bay
1945
1940s buildings near Sikh temple
1940s
1953
See more photos of this place

Comments

Thanks for following-up. During the mid-1920s, blasting operations at Morrison Hill had affected the school premises with stones/rocks falling on the roof of the school across Gap Road near the new motor road to the Peak (future Stubbs Road). That led me to suspect that the school was located on the south side of Gap Road. HK Telegraph 6 May 1925 refers.

Hi there, I remember the site right next to the Sikh Temple was a Government school of sort in the 1970's. It had a heavy set of wooden doors ❨like those of tje Queen's College in CWB❩.

The Hong Kong Technical Teacher's College took over the site in 1974 and running it for a period of time.  I am uncertain if they keep the place until it was finally demolished or had moved out long before that.

T

Hi There,

The building shaped like the number '1' in Roman type become the previously mentioned Hong Kong Technical Teacher's College in 1974.  I do not have any recollection of what it was before 1974.

The Hong Kong Technical Teacher's College merged with other institutions into the Hong Kong Education Institute in 1994 (I think).  They may have moved to somewhere else but I am uncertain.

T

The April 6, 1945, Hongkong News article that reported on the bombing of the Sikh temple said that the Anglo-Chinese school was "next door" to the temple and "completely demolished."

--Steve

Thanks for the photo, moddsey!

The school building in the picture is much more substanial than I had imagined.  Still, if the school was next door to the Sikh Temple, this has to be the building, since Stubbs Road was on the other side of the temple.

1,000-pound bombs would have wrecked the building easily enough despite its size and concrete construction.

--Steve

Hong Kong, hotel in front of hills
Hong Kong, hotel in front of hills, by uwm

Hi Steve, just to make sure we're talking about the same buildings - the large building with the balconies was a block of flats. It's where Barbara Anslow's family was living in 1941, and there's a bit more about it at: http://gwulo.com/node/8322

I think we can still see the Gap Road School in the photo, but just a sliver of its facade, visible between the right edge of the flats and the flagpole of the Sikh temple.

 Regards, David

Thanks for clarifying which building was which, David!  I was indeed confused on that point.

Since the block of flats is tucked in so tight against the school and temple, I wonder if the block was also damaged during the April 4 air strike (or any other air strike).  I noticed that there was a brief reference to this in the string about the building, and to Japanese AA guns being positioned on the roof.

--Steve