Former Sai Kung Police Station [1901-????]

Submitted by 80sKid on Fri, 06/21/2013 - 16:36
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed

placement is total guesswork

Update: Marker location is now roughly correct, based on old maps of the area as noted below in the comments.

Photos that show this Place

1936
1949
1973

Comments

The old police station, as with all of them, was built on a hill for protection ( and the possible discouragement of reports) and is not in the old town but on the hill above Tui Min Hoi. See map 
Map 1904.1 at http://www.hkmaps.hk/mapviewer.html

And today:

http://hk.centamap.com/gc/centamaplocation.aspx?x=845914&y=826312&sx=84… 

It is still a police facility of some sort

Thanks Guy, I've moved the marker to roughly where it was on the 1904.1 map.

Do you know if the building survived WW2, and if any traces of it still remain today?

Working through the maps at http://www.hkmaps.hk/mapviewer.html, it is still shown at this location til the 1949 map, then the new police station at the current location first appears on the 1952.1 map. I won't guarantee the 1949 map is accurate though, as the post-war maps sometimes took a while to be updated.

I am interested in the pre-WWII history and details of the Police Station at Sai Kung, in particular the European police contingent (including Marine Police) stationed there.

For example Acting Sergeant J Riddell A120 was stationed at Sai Kung in mid-1935.

Does anyone have information for this interesting subject?

Update: see comment below!

According to Richard Wong, the police station was used by the Basel Mission as the Luk Yuk Theological Seminary which opened 17 October, 1955. On the website of the University of California/International Mission Photography Archive photos of the seminary can be found, including this one:

Luk Yuk Theological Seminary
Luk Yuk Theological Seminary, by International Mission Photography Archive

Later, the seminary was converted to the Sai Kung Tsung Tsin Church. It is located at the junction of Po Tung Road and Man Nin Street:

Sai Kung Lok Yuk Kindergarten
Sai Kung Lok Yuk Kindergarten, by Chong Fat

ALL BACK TO START!!

Unfortunately, the information I posted after finding the photos of Richard Wong is not correct. He supposed the building to be the 1901 police station, but it's not. It was used as police station between 1946 and 1950, but the building is from 1940 and was built for residential use in 1940.

I've made a new place for it: Building at No. 19E Po Tung Road, Sai Kung (Li Shui Sang Houses).

So the exact location of the old police station is not clear, nor any photos could be found so far. 

A photo from 1958 shows on the opposite side of the harbour (extreme right) some buildings on the shore and on the hill.Probably none of these belong to the old police station which was located more on top of the hill.

Saikung fishing village
Saikung fishing village, by International Mission Photography Archive

On a 1949 aerial photograph:

Shows Sai Kung harbour and the old Sai Kung Police Station on the southern shore. The roof is missing, a building behind seems to be completely removed; so the police station was likely damaged during the Japanese invasion in 1941. 

Sai Kung aerial photograph with old police station 1949
Sai Kung aerial photograph 1949, by hkms2.0

The station was likely demolished when the Sai Kung Army Camp was built (early 1950s). There is an empty spot on the 1973 aerial photograph.

59. Sai Kung Police Station.—After great delays, arising to a considerable extent from sickness among the workmen, this Work was completed and the buildings handed over to the Police in December.