A quick visit to the old Tai Po Police Station

I recently joined a battlefield tour of the NT (courtesy of Dr Pat Hase and the Orders and Medals research Society) that visited some of the sites listed in Dr Pat Hase’s book on the Six Day War. The tour started off here in Tai Po and to my surprise involved a 30 minute or so tour of the Old Police Station site at the top of Flagstaff Hill. I’ve passed this place many times and even wrote a blog entry on it many moons ago but never got more than a fleeting glimpse due to it being off-limits to the public. So anyway, here are some snaps I took showing some of the compound inside.

This place has been subject to a tender process for adaptive reuse for a while and it was eventually awarded to the Kadoorie Hong Kong Heritage Project to be turned into a summer camp and education centre. It looks as though this impromptu tour would be the last public access before the project to convert it (and restore it to it’s original configuration it seems) gets underway in July. The project is slated to take 2 years so it may be a while before anyone gets another chance to look inside.

The blue door was the official main entrance when the building was first in use.

The flagpole isn’t too old but it does stand in the middle of the original parade ground – still fairly flat but as you can see very overgrown.

This shot above shows the north side of the complex, the air-conditioners are obviously not antiquated but were installed when the Marine Police moved here temporarily while they were waiting for their Shatin HQ to be finished.

This shows the north view from the hilltop complex. Look carefully and you will be able to see Kwong Fuk Road at the bottom. When the police station was first built that view would have simply been marshland and water of the Tolo Harbour. The low-rise buildings at the bottom were built circa 1955 and even then were standing alone along the old waterfront at Ap Mo Liu (the old fishing market area where the buildings stand).

The next few shots show the inside of the compound.

The main central courtyard gained a new building in the form of the metal walled building seen on the left of the above shot. I believe this ‘temporary’ structure will be removed during the renovation process which will free up the original area for activities.

Notice the chimney? Several of the rooms have open fires places, not necessary useful for HK summertime but definitely needed during winter when it can get a bit chilly. Speaking of which…

The place has definitely fallen into disrepair: paint peeling off, ceiling collapses, damaged floor, chipped concrete etc but considering it’s over 100 years old and sitting on top of what was an exposed hilltop in an area that suffers from a climate that can be a bit harsh, it’s still in pretty good shape all things considered and nothing that can’t be fixed.