Kowloon station (), colliquially Old Tsim Sha Tsui Terminal, located in

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hu ...

on the present site of the

Hong Kong Cultural Centre The Hong Kong Cultural Centre () is a multipurpose performance facility in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Located at Salisbury Road, it was built by the former Urban Council and, since 2000, has been administered by the Leisure and Cultural Servi ...

, was the former southern terminus of the

Kowloon–Canton Railway The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC ...

(KCR).

History

The first Kowloon station was a temporary structure built near the (now demolished) Post Office on

Salisbury Road Salisbury Road is a major road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Description It runs parallel to Victoria Harbour, starting from its western end at the Star Ferry Pier, passing by Blackhead Point, to Tsim Sha Tsui East. It intersects wi ...

in 1909 and served until the permanent station was completed. Regular service between Canton and Kowloon began on 1 October 1910. The new station was designed by

Arthur Benison Hubback Arthur Benison Hubback (13 April 1871 – 8 May 1948) was an English architect and soldier who designed several important buildings in British Malaya, in both Indo-Saracenic architecture and European " Wrenaissance" styles. Major works credit ...

and built on reclaimed land overlooking the harbour. Work on the foundations started in May 1913, and the construction of the station began on 1 March 1914. It was completed on 1 March 1916, and the station was officially opened on 28 March 1916. The building consisted of a two-storey L shaped terminal building with a clock tower. It was designed in a Edwardian Classical Revival style, and built had a steel frame with red brick cladding as well as white granite columns, architraves and pediments. On the north end of the station was a covered walkway which led to two covered elevated platforms. A freight station was located a mile north of the station.

Relocation

Owing to lacking of space for expansion, the southern terminus of the railway was moved from

to a new station of the same name on the new

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

from

Hung Hom Bay Hung Hom Bay was a bay in Victoria Harbour, between Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom in the southeast of Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Since 1994, parts of the bay were reclaimed, and by 2019 it had been completely extinguished. All of present-da ...

in 1974. The

was constructed on the site. The new Kowloon station was renamed to its present name,

Hung Hom Hung Hom () is an area in the southeast of Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Including the area of Whampoa, Tai Wan, Hok Yuen, Lo Lung Hang and No. 12 Hill are administratively part of the Kowloon City District, with a portion west of Hung Ho ...

, in the late 1990s. After its relocation to

(also replacing the old Hung Hom station) in 1974, and until 1994, "Kowloon" had been the name of present-day

Hung Hom station Hung Hom () is a railway station in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is an interchange station between the and the domestic services of the MTR network, as well as the southern terminus of cross-border through-trains to mainland China whic ...

, the new southern terminus of the KCR, the railway which was renamed

KCR East Rail The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 1996, ...

in the late 1990s.

Preservation campaign

A campaign was mounted to preserve the 60-year-old red brick terminus. The Kowloon Residents' Association wrote to the Colonial Secretary in 1970; the Tsim Sha Tsui Neighbourhood and Welfare Association also wrote to the Colonial Secretary in 1975, and again in May 1977. A petitionStrong public support to keep KCR buildings
''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'', 3 August 1977 was mounted by the Heritage Society, and sent to the then

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Murray MacLehose Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, (; 16 October 1917 – 27 May 2000), was a British politician, diplomat and the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, from 1971 to 1982. He was the longest-serving governor of the colony, with four ...

on 29 July 1977.Gary Coull, (9 February 1978
Save railway station plea to Queen
''South China Morning Post'' The Government rejected the petition, and its request for an independent inquiry into the draft area development plan. It argued that a new cultural complex would assume the role enjoyed by the building, and that the plans for a new cultural complex to be erected on the site were too far advanced to be altered. The Heritage society charged that the Government was engaged in dirty tricks, and was misleading the public. The Heritage Society escalated lobbying effort, and petitioned

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during h ...

with a file containing some 15,000 signatures in February 1978, hoping for royal intervention. Within 48 hours of the Royal decision, the demolition crew had already moved in.Michael Chugani, (8 June 1978
No place for history in money conscious HK
''The Standard'' HK UrbanCouncilCentenaryGarden

Clock Tower

The Clock Tower is the only part of the old station in Tsim Sha Tsui remaining at its own site. Six pillars of the station building were moved to the

Urban Council Centenary Garden The Urban Council Centenary Garden () is a public park in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It commemorates the centennial anniversary of the establishment of the Urban Council. The first phase of the park opened on 15 December 1983 with a c ...

Tsim Sha Tsui East Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsim ...

. After decades at other locations, including the East Rail depot at

Ho Tung Lau Ho Tung Lau () is a former area northeast of Lok Lo Ha in Sha Tin, near the MTR and on the former shore of Sha Tin Hoi, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Maps from the mid-1960s onward shifted Ho Tung Lau southwest-ward to the same location a ...

, the clock tower's bell was returned to its original home in September 2010.

References

External links

A Glimpse At Kowloon-Canton Railway's History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowloon Station (Kcr) Defunct railway stations in Hong Kong Former Kowloon–Canton Railway stations Former buildings and structures in Hong Kong Monuments and memorials in Hong Kong Railway stations in Hong Kong opened in 1909 Railway stations closed in 1974 1909 establishments in Hong Kong 1974 disestablishments in Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui