St. John's Hall, Bonham Road [1912-c.1967] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

St. John's Hall, Bonham Road [1912-c.1967]

Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
c.1912-01-01 (Month, Day are approximate)
Date Place demolished: 
c.1967-12-31 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)

From the 1912 PWD Annual Report:

The Hostel known as St. John's Hall, situated on I.L. 754, Bonham Road, belonging to the Church Missionary Society and intended for accommodation of Students attending the University, was completed.

Photos that show this place

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From HKU website:

A post-War inspection on August 31, 1945 found the Hall totally ruined with only its four walls remaining. St. John's College was built to replace the former Hall and its sister hostel, St. Stephen's Hall.

http://www.hkumag.hku.hk/hkuhistory2.html

The Hall was then rebuilt:

The Education Department agreed to help rebuild St. John’s on the condition that it could use St. John’s West Wing. St. John’s was thus reopened in September 1947. The West Wing was used as the Northcote Training College Primary School and St. Paul’s Boys’ College.

http://www.stjohns.hk/about-st-johns/history/

The original building appears in aerial shots in 1963 but is gone in 1972. 

From St Pauls Website: 

The current school buildings including the Hall, the Chapel, the new block of 36 secondary classrooms, the covered playground, the staff rooms, the Library and the Primary School building were completed in 1969

http://www.spc.edu.hk/content.php?id=58&mid=1-15

So destruction of the old building would be around 1966/67

I will quote from Loong, S. K. (1952), St. John's Hall: History and Register:

"The Church Missionary Society were exceedingly fortunate in being already the possessors of a very fine site directly opposite to the gates of the new University. At that time the buildings were occupied by a Girls' School, known as 'Fairlea', but in view of the need for a new hostel, it was decided to move the school to another site.

"Under the direction of the Ven. Archdeacon E. J. Barnett the work of adapting the place to its new use was promptly put in hand, a building fund was opened for subscriptions, and the Dioceses of Liverpool did much to make accomplishment possible. The old Fairlea building was adapted for the residence of students and of one member of staff, and a fine new building was designed by Messrs. Denison Ram and Gibbs, to the East [i.e. East Wing], providing accomodation for 28 students and the warden.

"When the University was formally opened in September 1912, St. John's Hall was the only Hostel ready for occupation...

"During the following terms more students applied for residence... in January 1914, the Board of Control applied to the Church Missionary Society for permission to extend the buildings... The extension took the form of a wing connecting the old [Fairlea] building and the first block [i.e. East Wing] which had been put up, and provided possible accomodation for 24 students. This was completed in the autumn of the same year [i.e. 1914]...

"Such was the condition of affairs until 1920, in which year the old Fairlea building was condemned as a residence for students. The natural effects of old age (the building was certainly over 40 years old) had been hastened by the earthquake in 1918, though the results were not immediately apparent. The building continued to stand, unoccupied and unsightly, and it was most desirable that it should be pulled down and another more suitable building erected as soon as possible.

"... the Board of Control [of St. John's Hall] obtained from the Church Missionary Society the use of St. Stephen's House standing just to the west of St. John's Hall as an annexe [in 1922]...

"An appeal for money towards the Building Fund [for the building of the West Wing] was thus launched in 1923... Thus the West Wing was extended in 1925..."

 

According to my own research (mainly on SCMP reports), Fairlea Girls' School was opened in 1886 by a Ms. Margaret Johnstone, but the Fairlea building itself has certainly been standing at Bonham Road before that, and was then owned by Mr. R. Belilios. Johnstone rented Fairlea from Belilios, and it was not until 1899-1900 that CMS took over the school as well as purchased the land. 

Then, CMS decided to move Fairlea away from Bonham Road since it'd not be great to have a girls' school next to a University male-concentrated area. St. John's Hall moved into Fairlea and constructed the East Wing to the east, parallel to Hing Hong Road. In 1914, an extension was constructed connecting the East Wing with Fairlea along the Pokfulam Road side. And probably sometime before 1925 Fairlea was demolished, making way for constructing the East Wing which formed an L shape with the West Wing.

 

St. John's Hall was looted to bare walls after the WWII, but after reconstruction, the East and West Wings had been preserved. In 1950 St. Paul's College took over the West Wing of the Hall, and in 1955, St. John's Hall moved to the magnificent site of 82 Pokfulam Road while St. Paul's College took over the premises. In 1960s, St. Paul's reconstructed the whole place. However, it is believed that the foundation and the stone fence along Bonham Road of St. Paul's are the remains of St. John's Hall.

As to Fairlea, it was first moved to Prospect Terrace, and then into the Lyttelton Road campus of St. Stephen's Girls' College in 1924, where the 2 schools shared the campus for 12 years. In 1936, Fairlea merged with another school to form Heep Yunn School in Kowloon!

Would suggest correcting the title of this page to St. John's Hall [c. 1912-1955].

In 1955, St. John's College replaced St. John's Hall, and it stands in 82 Pokfulam Road.

For St Paul's College, their history in 69 Bonham Road started in 1950. In 1955, when St. John's moved away, they took over the whole of the premises. And in late 1962, St. Paul's started reconstruction project. The North Wing was completed in 1963, the West Wing 1964, and the East Wing 1968. Quoting from Hung (ed.), From Devotion to Plurality: A full history of St. Paul's College 1851-2001, p. 91.

As to Fairlea, suggest correcting information to "Fairlea [1886 to 1912]" for in 1912 Fairlea Girl's School moved to Prospect Terrace!