European House #2, Cheung Chau [c.1907- ]

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Current condition
In use
Date completed
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)

The land lease for House #2, CCIL17, Kwun Yam Wan, took effect on July 1, 1898. It was granted by the British colonial government to build a missionary villa after the signing of the Hong Kong Extension Convention between the Qing and British Empires. 

The original building is believed to have been constructed between 1903 and 1907.  First, the heavy exterior walls of the centre were constructed and reinforced with buttresses.  Large blocks of granite, common in Cheung Chau, were cut into rough stone by local stonecutters. The coursed squared masonry retains a simple and natural feel. The single-story floor is approximately five meters high. The house has a solid verandah with arched eaves at the front.

It stands on a hill with a steep approach path, close to the beach, with views over Kwun Yam Wan.

Four dormitory bedrooms and storage rooms were added in the 1950s.

The house has a long history and operates today as the Bradbury Retreat Centre.

Source:  Bradbury Retreat Centre

 

Photos that show this Place

European House #2, Cheung Chau
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Dr Ida M Scott, missionary, Reformed Presbyterian Church, NA.
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Drs Kate and Jean McBurney, missionaries, Reformed Presbyterian Church, NA
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Comments

  • 1898: The land lease for Cheung Chau Inland Lot No. 17 (CCIL 17) is granted by the British colonial government after the Hong Kong Extension Convention between the Qing and British Empires. Ada M. Scott, Ida M. Scott, Kate McBurney, (later BCMS) and Jean McBurney (Reformed Presbyterian Church, North America), become the joint owners, serving as medical missionaries in Deqing and Luoding, South China.
  • 1903–1907: Construction of the original villa is completed, with local stonecutters using granite from Cheung Chau.
  • 1911–1912: The Xinhai Revolution brings turmoil in mainland China, leading Reverend Ernest Chalmers and Mrs. Mitchell, Dr. Jean McBurney, and other missionaries such as Julius A. Kempf to seek refuge at CCIL 17. The villa becomes a hub for meetings, intelligence gathering, and annual church report preparation.
  • 1925: Official transfer of CCIL 17 to Reverend E C Mitchell and Mrs. Mitchell, who continue using it as a vacation and support home for missionary families.
  • Dr Kate McBurney is posted to the BCMS Emmanuel Hospital, Nanning, for two years, to take over from Dr Lechmere Clift, who has moved to Hong Kong with his wife Winifred, following her illness.  McBurney, like the Clifts, joined the BCMS the previous year.  She had been unhappy with the turmoil in her previous posting in China.
  • Pre-1938: Pastor Frank T. Woodward and his family, Southern Baptist missionaries, frequently vacation in Cheung Chau. It is not certain if they resided specifically at CCIL 17.
  • 1938, September: Dr. Frank Woodard Scott, a Baptist missionary in Wuzhou, Xijiang, becomes the owner of CCIL 17 after the Mitchells.
  • 1949: The house is handed over to Rev. Arthur G. Lindquist, founding president of the Evangelical Theological Seminary.
  • Early 1950s: Missionary Doris Ekblad Olson and others reside at CCIL 17 to learn Chinese and serve local churches.
  • Four concrete dormitory bedrooms and storage rooms are added to the house.
  • 1954 & 1973: The lease for CCIL 17 is renewed as a charitable institution, supporting missionary and church communities. Infrastructure upgrades are documented in 1973.
  • 1956: Miss Yan Luyi purchases CCIL 17 as a trustee for the Presbyterian Church (USA) for use as a rest house for missionaries.
  • 1970: Management is transferred to the Hong Kong Synod of the Chinese Episcopal Church.
  • 1975–1998: Rev. Wendell P. Karsen, a missionary with the Reformed Church (USA), resides at the centre.
  • 1983: Ownership is transferred to the Hong Kong Christian Council and then to Hong Kong Christian Service. Major renovations are funded by the Bradbury Foundation, and the centre is renamed the Bradbury Retreat Centre.
  • Present: The centre accommodates theological students from mainland China attending Kin Tao Theological Seminary. It continues to serve as a site for theological education and spiritual formation on Cheung Chau.

 

Source:  Bradbury Retreat Centre