Hoh Fuk Tong Centre
Hoh Fuk Tong Centre (Chinese: 何福堂會所 - 福堂樓) is located at 28 Castle Peak Road, San Hui, Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong. Morrison Building is a declared monument of Hong Kong.
The Centre was named after Rev. Hoh Fuk Tong, the first Chinese pastor in Hong Kong.[1]
History
Hoh Fuk Tong Centre was built by General Cai Tingjie (1892–1968), who led the Nineteenth Corps against the Japanese invasion between 1936 and the early 1940s.
The Centre was the villa of General Cai from 1936 to 1946. It was used for tertiary education by the Dade Institute, founded under the directive of Chinese leaders Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu, from 1946 to 1949. After the closure of Dade Institute, the London Missionary Society, now the Council for World Mission, bought the campus and lent it to the Church of Christ in China since 1950.
The London Missionary Society formally transferred the ownership of the compound to the Church at a token fee of one dollar in 1961.[1]
In early 2000s, the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China applied to the Buildings Department to demolish all the centre's historical buildings and redevelop the site.
But San School and Hoh Fuk Tong College would also have been torn down.[2]
To protect the historic building from demolition, Morrison House was declared a proposed monument on 11 April 2003;[3] it was later declared as monument on 26 March 2004.[4][5]
Buildings
The Morrison Building and the Hoh Fuk Tong Center Building are two of the oldest buildings in the Centre.[1]
Morrison Building
Constructed in 1936, Morrison Building was the oldest building in the Hoh Fuk Tong Centre; it was the main building of the Former Dade Institute.[1]
Hoh Fuk Tong Centre Building
Hoh Fuk Tong Centre Building was constructed in the 1940s; it had been used as the girls' dormitory of the Former Dade Institute. It was also known as the "Red House" as it was built of red bricks.[1]
References
- Legislative Council Panel on Home Affairs: Declaration of the Morrison Building as a Monument
- Press Release:AMO obtains support to preserve historical buildings in Hoh Fok Tong Centre
- Press Release: Morrison Building in Hoh Fuk Tong Centre Declared Proposed Monument Archived 2007-03-10 at the Wayback Machine
- Antiquities and Monuments Office: The Morrison Building in Hoh Fuk Tong Centre
- Report No. 60 of the Director of Audit, Chapter 1: "Conservation of monuments and historic buildings", 28 March 2013.