A former village school that is a testament to pre-metropolitan Hong Kong is about to be demolished, but architecture scholars and heritage conservation enthusiasts are unwilling to let it go without a fight.
Built in 1952 in Cha Kwo Ling, between Lam Tin and Yau Tong in East Kowloon, the Sze Shan Public School building – with its curved structures and long horizontal lines – is one of Hong Kong’s few examples of buildings in the Streamline Moderne architectural style, inspired by automation and aerodynamics. However, it has not been graded a historic building.
The former Sze Shan Public School is facing demolition despite being built in the same year as the State Theatre in North Point, a grade one historic building.
“It’s a pity that this has somehow been overlooked,” says Dr Prudence Lau Leung-kwok, a professor specialising in cultural heritage and Hong Kong architectural history.