The former Kowloon Magistracy is a historic building and former Magistrate's and District Court in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, located at No. 38

Gascoigne Road Gascoigne Road () is a main road in Kowloon, Hong Kong, going west-east from Nathan Road to Chatham Road South through the head of King's Park, leading vehicles from West Kowloon to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Gascoigne Road Flyover () is ...

, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.

History

Constructed under the direction of Director of Public Works Richard McNeil Henderson in 1933, the building housed a court handling minor criminal cases at magistrate's level. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, it served as the Kowloon headquarters of the Kempeitai. It later served as the Kowloon District Court which was renamed in 1957 the South Kowloon District Court. After the opening of the North Kowloon Magistracy in 1960, some cases were diverted there. The South Kowloon District Court remained in use as a district court until 1986 when it became the Judiciary Central File Repository. It has served as the Lands Tribunal () since 1997 and accommodates five courts.Antiquities and Monuments Office: Brief Information on Proposed Grade I Items, pp. 240-241
The South Kowloon Magistracy moved to a building next door (36 Gascoigne Road) where it operated until final closure in 2000.

Conservation

The former Kowloon Magistracy was listed as a Grade II historic building in 1992 and upgraded to Grade I in 2009.List of the 1,444 Historic Buildings in Building Assessment
(as of 27 December 2013)

References

Judiciary of Hong Kong Yau Ma Tei Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong Government buildings completed in 1936 {{Kowloon-stub