Current condition
In use
Date completed
(Day & Month are approximate.)
Timeline:
- 1924: This new police station was completed, replacing the previous Shatin Police Station that was a short distance away to the northeast.
- 1941-45: The buildings were used as a command centre by the Japanese army.
- 1950: The Mennonite Central Committee established a hostel here for children whose families had tuberculosis, but who weren't yet infected themselves.
- 1953: The Shatin Babies Home moved in to these buildings.
- 1964: The ‘Christian Missions in Many Lands’ took over the site in January 1964 under the registered name of Shatin High Rock Christian School, or Spiritual Foundation School, running a primary school and kindergarten here.
- 1980: The premises were converted into High Rock Christian Camp for children and youths under the management of Stewards (HK) Ltd.
Photos that show this Place
1948
c.1953
1956
Comments
Now High Rock hostel
https://highrock.stewards.hk/
The hostel website has changed since I first posted this comment, and the fact that there is no English version suggests to me that they no longer offer hostel facilities to tourists from outside of the Chinese speaking world.
Re: Stewards High Rock Hostel
Hi There,
The site is actually much closer to Tai Wai Station. I believe the diesel or even earlier coal single track KCRC used to have a Tai Wai Station too. butI could not recall the time frame.
The nearest station in the present day is the Che Kung Temple Station.
T
High Rock
Thanks for pinning down the location, and good to see it's an old building that has survived.
The 1952 map shows it still marked as a Police Station. It also shows that Shatin station was the nearest station, reached by a fairly direct footpath over a stone footbridge:
https://gwulo.com/node/38880?a=1#15/22.3788/114.1879/Map_by_ESRI-1952_A…
High Rock
I visited a few years ago. One of the staff saw me outside taking photos and invited me in. It's now (or was in 2013) operated by a Christian organisation as a hostel. It's hidden away on a small hill on the opposite side of the nullah to the Heritage Museum. well worth a trip if you are in the area and there is/was a room inside that contains a little bit of history about the building and Shatin in general including lots of photos before the valley was redeveloped.
Construction, 1922-4
Its construction is mentioned in the annual reports of the Public Works Department:
1922.174:
It was decided to erect this building on the hill to the West of Shatin Tau. Plans were prepared and tenders invited therefor, the lowest amounting to $47,096.50 being accepted prior to end of the year.
1923.187:
A Contract for the work was signed in January, and by the end of the year, the building, which is similar to the one at Lok Ma Chau was completed structurally, and the finishings were in hand.
1924.195:
The progress of the work was most unsatisfactory, due chiefly to the dilatoriness of the Contractor who was fined for failing to complete the contract within the stipulated time.
At the close of the year the Station has been completed.
Similar construction to Lok Ma Chau Police Station
Lok Ma Chau Police Station was built a decade earlier, in 1915, and as far as I know, is still being used for its original purpose today. See https://gwulo.com/node/33522
Historic Building Appraisal
The former Sha Tin Police Station was confirmed as a Grade 2 historic building in 2010. It is one of the few remaining pre-war police stations in Hong Kong.
An extract from the Appraisal states:
"Situated at No. 102 Sha Tin Tau Village (沙田頭村), the High Rock Christian Camp (基督教靈基營) was originally erected and used as a police station. Being the second police station in Shatin which replaced the original one in Yuen Chau Kok, the premises functioned to ensure law and order from 1924. During the Japanese Occupation (1941-1945) the premises were used as a command centre by the Japanese army." Details of the various post-war uses of the building are also given in the Appraisal.
Regarding its architectural style, the Appraisal states: "The building complex is two stories high with a basement and encloses a courtyard which is used as a playground. The building displays an interesting vocabulary of architectural features showing Modernist, Edwardian and Arts & Crafts influences. It is mainly constructed of red bricks, but some facades have been rendered and painted. The architectural design is simple and functional, as opposed to decorative and ornamental. Arts and Crafts influence can be seen in the use of local materials and in the craftsmanship. The North and West Blocks, which are probably the oldest parts of the building, have pitched roofs of Chinese tiles and open verandahs at the playground side. Original wooden doors and windows still exist. The South and East Blocks are more modern in appearance with rendered and painted walls and aluminium windows."
The full document is found here: http://www.aab.gov.hk/historicbuilding/en/563_Appraisal_En.pdf
Police Station Building in 1952
Mention was made above in the map of 1952 that the building is marked as a police station. Mildred Dibden started her second babies' home in two bungalows in Ping Shan NT in May 52, and didn't move into the Old Police Station until May 1953, when it became Shatin Babies' Home.
Old Police Station
This complex was, for a number of years, the Police Regional HQs for the New Territories - before the latter was split into North and South Regions. I worked there in the early 1980s. It’s pleasing to see that the building survives. - albeit in a very different role.
New Territories Regional HQ
Hi Tideswell27,
Wasn't NT HQ in the early '80's the building mentioned at http://gwulo.com/node/57415? Unfortunately there's no photo, but I seem to remember that NT HQ was on Tung Lo Wan Hill Road.