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 a ...

, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.

History

Constructed under the direction of Director of Public Works

Richard McNeil Henderson Richard McNeil Henderson, (; 14 January 1886 – 16 March 1972) was a British engineer and colonial administrator. He was the Director of Public Works (Hong Kong) from 1932 to 1939. Henderson was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers an ...

in 1933, the building housed a court handling minor criminal cases at magistrate's level. During the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce ...

, it served as the Kowloon headquarters of the

Kempeitai The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspecte ...

. 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 The North Kowloon Magistracy (北九龍裁判法院 / 北九龍裁判司署 before 1 July 1997) is a historic building and former Magistrate's Court located at No. 292, Tai Po Road, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The building was erecte ...

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