Kowloon Tong Anglican Church, 3 Duke Street, Kowloon [1933-????]

Submitted by lolau on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 14:50
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed

I found it from HKGRO that there was once an Anglican Church at 3 Duke Street, Kowloon. Anyone know its history and was this church moved to a new place or closed?

Photos that show this Place

1938

Comments

"Worship at St Peter's stopped in August 1933. When the Kowloon Tong Anglican Church opened the next month in a large double room of a newly built house at 3 Duke Street, the altar and other furnishings were those of St Peter's, and in 1940 its bell was moved into Christ Church tower. In compensation for the resumption of St Peter's, a site in Kowloon Tong was set aside by government along with a sum of fifty thousand dollars."

From:

http://www.christchurch.com.hk/servlet/idxPub8b99.html?db=christchurch&…

The new church and kindergarten were described on p.16 of the SCMP, 4 Sep 1933:

CHURCH HOUSE HALLOWED.
Bishop Hall Blesses New Anglican Venture.
AT KOWLOON TONG.

The new Church House, known as the Kowloon Tong Anglican Church, Duke Street, was hallowed by the Bishop of Hongkong, (Right Rev. R. O. Hall) on Saturday evening, in the presence of a full congregation, which included Major H. B. L. Dowbiggin, O.B.E., and Mrs. Dowbiggin.

The new venture was launched by the Executive Council of, the Victoria Diocesan Conference, who decided that the experiment of a new Church in that district should be tried for a period of eighteen months, as from November. A large double room on the ground floor of the house has been fitted up as a Church, and much of the church furniture has been transferred from the old St. Peter’s— Church, West Point.

The Priest in-Charge is the Rev. N. V. Halward, Acting Chaplain of St. John's Cathedral. Commencing yesterday, Holy Communion was celebrated at 7.15 a.m., with Choral Eucharist and Sermon at 9 o'clock.

The hallowing was an impressive service. The Bishop, preceded by the Rev. Frank Short, the Rev. Lee Kau-yan, the Rev. L. L. Nash (Chaplain, Diocesan Boys’ School), Mr. C. B. R. Sargent (Headmaster, D.B.S.) Mr. (J. H. Hunt, O.B.E., and Mr. J. W. Baldwin (Lay Reader and Vicar’s Warden, respectively, of St. Andrew's Church) , and the Rev. N. V. Halward, proceeded  to the Sanctuary. The congregation, kneeling, sang the hymn “Come, thou holy Paraclete.”

Bishop Hall then addressed the congregation briefly. He said that in going out in their new venture they must keep in mind Christianity’s greatest thing—the power of reconciliation, forgiveness. The new Church House had been accomplished as the result of prayers and faith, and it seemed as though God had staked a claim, in a new territory. It would be a place of deeds, not words, a place of peacemaking, home-making and joy-making. There would be no bitterness, no faction, and one and all, priest for people and people for priest, would unite in the bond of unity.

Prayer followed, during which the Bishop hallowed the Church House.

The hymn “Thy kingdom come! on bended knee,” was sung, after which the Rev. N. V. Halward conducted Evening Prayer, up to and including the Third Collect. Psalms 121 and 122 and the Magnificat were sung, and the Bishop read the Lesson, which was the Epistle for yesterday.

After the Third Collect, the congregation joined in saying the Prayer of Humble Access, following which the hymn, “Crown him with many crowns” was sung. The Blessing by the Bishop closed the service.

Miss R. Mow Fung was at the piano.

The following are the officials of the Church House: Chairman.:— the Priest-in-Charge (Rev. N. V. Halward); Acting Hon. Secretary. Miss R. Mow Fung; Hon. Treasurer, Mr. J. C. L. Wong.

The Church Committee consists of the Chairman, the Hon. Secretary, the Hon. Treasurer and five others. The following have been elected to serve on the Committee. — Mrs. F. E. E. Booker, Mrs. H. L. Langley, and Mr. E. S. Cunningham, and the Committee is empowered to add two others to its number.

Kindergarten School.

The Committee of the Diocesan Girls’ School (has decided to open a Kindergarten Branch School at Kowloon Tong, with a view to meeting the needs of Anglican parents and others living in that district.

Suitable premises have been found in the Church House, and the Head Mistress has invited Mrs. H. L. Langley to reside there and take charge of the school.

Mrs. Langley is a member of the present staff of the Diocesan Girls' School, a teacher of experience, and the school at Duke Street will be carried on on similar lines to that of the Jordan Road School, where the Kindergarten has for some time been unable to receive all the applications for admittance.

The School will open on September 14 but Mrs. Langley is now in residence, so that all parents who wish places reserved for their children should get into touch with her without delay. The telephone is being installed though the number is not yet available.

The fees will be the same as the Jordan Road School, namely $24 per term, payable in advance.

This map is too NEW to see the actual residents once on Duke Street.

I went to St. Rose of Lima's in the late 1960s. Perhaps the Anglican Church was once at the site where the basketball courts of Stl Rose is located on this map which is probably from the 1970s.  The X complex at the corner of Duke was the former offices of DR. M.T. Cheng, D.D.S. and Dr. Tso Gynechologist. 3 Dile street was betweemt tje School and 5 Duke Street which was demolished in 1969-1970 before this coomplex with crossed shape buildings high rises apartment was complete somewhere in the early 1970s. 

The structure was referred to as a "mansion" resident of Mr. Jan Con Sang by a Rev. Parker of First Congregational Church in Prescott, Arizona where Mr. Jan was a student of a Mr. T.W. Otis in the 1896.

zzzz time here. To be continued. Please send me email as reminder that I have not complete a summary of the few buildings on Duke Street just "south" of Bouondary Street and North of Prince Edward Rd. I think. Don't know the English name but in Chinese Cantonese was "Tai Tsz Rd"...

Yes, it will be insteresting to find out why Duke Street was so named. Walked down the street many times when student at St. Rose of Lima's Girls Secondary School. 3 Duke Street was another "mansion" as 5 Duke Street on the same side of the Street as St. Rose of Lima's. where the basketball outdoor was partially shared the brick wall(fence) with 3 Duke St. where the structure(mansion) was well hindden among tall trees and fona and huge tropical trees like those red ones with flowers that turned into cotton like "seeds". No idea what the English name was for "Mok Mien Fa(flower)" --> wood-cotton flower tree...  Sorry, never learn the English name for those vegetations in St. Rose of Lima's neighborhood where there was also a nun's convent and little Catholic chaple which students were not along to visit. Their entrance was on Boundary street, I think...not the side facing the train track Embarment Rd???? Forgot the English name also...

Keep asking me questions...and may I ask who brought up the Anglican Church question on 3 Duke Street where I think, it's property of the Wong family with 2 daughters who play excellent piano.

By the way, there is a possibilty that the Church was once located on 1 Duke street and demolished in the 1960s for the school to add on a basketball court?

I heard that St. Rose is no longer at this location. Moved into China after 1997???

Juliana Cheng

Santa Cruz, Calif.

 

Here's an earlier map showing the north side of Duke Street in 1956: https://gwulo.com/node/9490?a=1#19/22.32630/114.17543/Map_by_ESRI-1956_…

At the left of the 1956 map, the building marked with a cross in a circle is a school, then there are 1, 3, and 5 Duke Street.

Then in the years after the 1956 map was drawn:

  • The school expanded to include the land where 1 Duke Street stood. The St. Rose of Lima's School is still there today (school website).
  • 3 Duke Street was redeveloped to become Imperial Garden.
  • 5 Duke Street was redeveloped to become Duchy Heights.

The school is still there but it underwent a complete rebuild circa 2009, so the old building that Juliana attended no longer exists.