St. Stephen's Hall, 13 & 15 Babington Path (I.L. 1216 s. B ss. 1 s. A) [????-c.1963]

Submitted by jonchucj on Sat, 12/30/2017 - 17:53
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date closed / demolished
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)

St. Stephen's Hall was the first women's hostel of the University of Hong Kong, founded by the CMS in 1922 upon request of the University authorities and under the auspices of St. Stephen's Girls' College.

From PRO records (HKRS1631-2-182), the CMS raised enough funds for purchasing 2 houses Nos. 13 & 15 Babington Path (IL 1216 s. B ss. 1 s. A), the legal estate of which was vested in trustees. The Land Register reveals that the consideration was $60,000. The plot became vested in St. John's College after its incorporation in 1956 (the College opened 1955 being the product of almagamating St. John's Hall and St. Stephen's Hall).

The land was sold to Yem Brothers Co. Ltd. in 1961. In 1963 late May, a building mortgage was made, so I suspect that the 2 houses were demolished around that time. It was not known when the 2 houses were built.

The site is now Shing Kai Mansion.

Later place(s) at this location
Shing Kai Mansion, 13-15 Babington Path (I.L. 1216 s. B ss. 1 s. A) [1965- ]

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St. Stephen's Hall opened in a rented premises in 1922 (location unknown). That place was said to be "adjacent to the Girls' College (which was already moved to Babington Path after the 1918 earthquake)" at SSGC's 1922 Speech Day (SCMP 20-1-1922, p. 8). Successive appeals were made to raise funds for a permanent building for the Hall. An Organsing Committee was formed in 1928 under the chairmanship of Lieut. Col. R.B. Skinner (SCMP 30-10-1928, p. 9). In 1931 Speech Day, it was noted that $30,000 was raised, which was a quarter of what was required (SCMP 4-2-1931, p. 14), but that seemed to be the last time St. Stephen's Hall was mentioned in the Speech Day reports.

From archival records of St. John's College we are now able to confirm the former locations of St. Stephen's Hall as follows:

  • 1922-25 — No. 4, Babington Path (SSGC was in Nos. 4-6 Babington Path in 1918-23)
  • 1925-27 — No. 5, Basilea, Lyttelton Road
  • 1927-30 — No. 25, Babington Path
  • 1930-33 — Nos. 13 and 15, Babington Path

These were all rented premises. It was only in 1933 that the Hall had sufficient funds to purchase Nos. 13 and 15 to become its permanent site.

Does any one know where No. 4, Babington Path was in the 1920s?