Kowloon Tsai Park

Kowloon Tsai Park is a park located in the Kowloon Tsai area of New Kowloon in Hong Kong. It lies within the Kowloon City District and opened on 5 June 1964.[1]

Kowloon Tsai Park
九龍仔公園
Aerial overview photo (2019)
LocationKowloon Tsai,
New Kowloon, Hong Kong
Area14.99 ha
Opened5 June 1964 (1964-06-05)
Operated byLeisure and Cultural Services Department
Public transit access     Lok Fu station
The "checkerboard" on the hill above the park

History

In the 1950s, the area was used as a borrow area to supply fill for the extension of the nearby Kai Tak Airport runway. The Urban Council commissioned architecture firm Leigh and Orange to draw up plans for the redevelopment of this area of "barren hills and waste lands" as a new recreational area for the citizens of Kowloon.[2] The first phase of the new park opened in 1964.[1]

The Kowloon Tsai Swimming Pool, the first in Kowloon, was funded by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club and also opened in 1964. Originally, the pool was not open in the evening because it sat under the airport flight path, hence the Civil Aviation Department would not agree on the use of outdoor floodlighting there.[3]

Features

The park consists of three football fields (2 artificial grass and 1 natural grass), two basketball courts, two 7-a-side football courts, one public swimming pool, two tennis courts, a Bauhinia Garden and children's playgrounds.

Kowloon Tsai Sports Ground is located within the park. It consists of an international standard football field, running tracks and a spectator stand with bathroom facilities. The grandstand seats 1,216.[4]

The Kowloon Tsai Swimming Pool was the first swimming pool in Kowloon. It features a 50-metre competition pool and smaller leisure pools. The LCSD plans to reconstruct the pool complex to provide an indoor heated pool.[5]

The famous checkerboard for the Kai Tak Runway 13 approach can be found at the top of the park. Due to this, the hill where the checkerboard was located was christened as Checkerboard Hill.

See also

References
  1. "Kowloon Tsai Park". Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  2. "Big swimming pool planned in Kowloon Tsai Park". South China Morning Post. 7 January 1961. p. 7.
  3. Ip, Ki-Tit (21 July 1979). "Shedding light on Kowloon Tsai pool". South China Morning Post.
  4. "Kowloon Tsai Sports Ground". Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  5. "Progress Report of the 8th Meeting of the Kowloon City District Council" (PDF). Kowloon City District Office. April 2013.

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