Bonham Road school, Old Tai Po Police Station, Hip Tin Temple declared as monuments

The government has today declared Bonham Road Government Primary School in Sai Ying Pun, the Old Tai Po Police Station in Tai Po and Hip Tin Temple in Sha Tau Kok as monuments under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance.

The Bonham Road Government Primary School premises were originally built in 1940 to house the Northcote Training College. During the Japanese occupation period, the college was closed and the site was used as the headquarters of the Japanese Military Police.

The main building is a prominent example of Streamline Moderne buildings in Hong Kong, characterized by curves and horizontal lines and being functional with minimal ornamentation. In addition, the air-raid shelters in the main building, which bore witness to the Japanese invasion, are quite rare in the existing historic buildings in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the Old Tai Po Police Station, built in 1899, is the first police station and the Police Headquarters in the New Territories, and is the oldest surviving police station in the New Territories.

As for the Hip Tin Temple in Sha Tau Kok, it is a temple of significant historical value to the economic development of the Sha Tau Kok area in the late 19th century, and is one of the few surviving main temples associated with the Tung Wo Market operated by the village alliance Shap Yeuk, which dominated the economy of the Sha Tau Kok area from the 1830s to the 1930s.