1 King Yin Lei can be restored by 2009
Una So, The Standard 26 January 2008

King Yin Lei, the 70-year-old Chinese-style mansion rescued from the wreckers, can be restored to its former glory by mid-2009.

Ho Puay-peng, chairman of the architecture department at Chinese University and an expert on Chinese heritage architecture, said it may take six to nine months for restoration after at least five months of preparation.

"This means King Yin Lei should be restored to its former glory by mid- 2009," he said.

The Development Bureau will announce details of the mansion's restoration and land arrangements with its owner today, a government source said. The issue will also be discussed at today's Antiquities Advisory Board meeting.

Conservation academics have urged speedy renovations to restore the defaced King Yin Lei, work that they say can start as early as three months.

To preserve the mansion's heritage integrity, the government has ruled out a plot ratio transfer within the site, and instead will swap the Stubbs Road site with an adjoining government plot of land.

The site's current owner, Ice Wisdom, had agreed earlier to foot the restoration bill.The bureau said it will seek partners to revitalize the use of the restored mansion.

Workers were found wrecking the building in September. They stopped when it was declared a proposed monument.

Philip Liao Yi-kang, the architect of the mansion's former owner Stephen Yow Mok-shing, said the bureau should come up with a holistic policy to deal with heritage buildings on private land.

"This is a wake up call. They should set up a system where people can come forward to negotiate for a better way out in a similar situation."

The government has to decide on the future of King Yin Lei by September, before the proposed monument declaration expires.

2 Maryknoll school celebrates listing of its historic campus
Vivienne Chow and Olga Wong, SCMP 26 January 2008

Maryknoll Convent School

Kowloon Tong's Maryknoll Convent School building will join the government's list of declared monuments.

Development Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced yesterday that the Antiquities Advisory Board supported the school's initiative that the historic campus should be declared a monument.

She said visits to the school had shown the campus was well-maintained, adding that the government would provide financial support for its preservation.

The historic girls' school welcomed the government's decision.

"We welcome the government's proposal to declare the Maryknoll Convent School building as a monument," said Sister Jeanne Houlihan, chairwoman of the Maryknoll Convent School Foundation Council. "It has been a grade three historic building since 1992. We have just celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2007."

Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping, one of the vice-chairwomen of the Maryknoll Convent School Foundation, said that she was thrilled and delighted with the news.

"We love our school and we are very proud, not just of the building," said Mrs Yu, who attended Maryknoll between 1952 and 1962, from Primary Four to matriculation. She said that her two younger sisters also attended the school.

Mrs Yu said she did not think it had taken the government too long to decide to declare the school building a monument.

"In deciding in whether to declare a monument, I understand that there are lots of considerations," she said. "But whether it has taken too long, we are just pleased. We appreciate that the government is doing this."

The Maryknoll Convent School building was modelled after the Maryknoll Motherhouse in New York. The eye-catching building features elaborate brickwork and incorporates various architectural styles - ranging from art deco to neo-Georgian and Gothic revival.

The school consists of four different parts. The oldest is the primary section, which was built in 1937. The convent right next to it was completed in 1953.

The old wing and new wing of the secondary section were built in 1944 and 1960.

The building's distinctive style made the school a popular location for television ads and dramas.

In 1925, the Maryknoll sisters, who came from the United States to preach, established the Maryknoll Convent School in a small community room of their convent in Austin Road with 12 students.

The school then expanded, and in 1937 the construction of the school building located at Waterloo Road and Boundary Street was completed. The school provided education to students from kindergarten to matriculation.

The school building was taken over and used as a military hospital during the Japanese occupation.

3 Heritage value 'not enough for top status'
Helen Wu, SCMP 26 January 2008

The heritage value of a 77-year-old mansion in Pokfulam Road was "insufficient" for it to be classified as a monument, the Antiquities Advisory Board ruled yesterday.

But the owners of Jessville - a rare European-style house - said they would keep the mansion even after it was classified as a grade three building.

It will likely become a clubhouse of a residential development and open to the public once a month.

Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Antiquities and Monument Office experts found that the mansion was of some historical significance, but "insufficient" to merit monument status. "During the time when the government declared it a proposed monument last April, we did not have the chance to get inside the house to look at its interior," she said.

"But as the government managed to obtain more information about the place after being allowed access, the colleagues from the Antiquities and Monuments Office found it did not deserve monument status."

Under the present system, a building with architecture "of some merit" is deemed a grade three building but not qualified for consideration as a possible monument.

Jessville was built in about 1931 by prominent barrister and social figure William Ngar Tse Thomas Tam. He named the mansion after his wife.

Two proposals to rezone the site occupied by Jessville were submitted to the Town Planning Board yesterday. The owners have applied to build three high-rise blocks of flats within the 6,440 square metre site, or four medium- to low-rise blocks with an extension to adjacent government land.

The proposal said the owners preferred the first option, but suggested that a 1,850 square metre area be provided as a "preservation area" around the historic building if land was added.

"This would provide an area of protection within the new development where the existing landscape and features around the building could be clearly distinguished from the new development area," it said.

The development would provide 102 flats and a traffic assessment report found that no noticeable impact on traffic would be created. If approved, the development is scheduled for completion in 2016.

An owners' statement said they would fund the restoration of the historic building, which would be owned by whoever bought the development.

Mrs Lam said the government did not intend to grant the extra piece of land requested for the development. "I have expressed to them the government's intention in our last meeting with the owners, with reason being that the preservation proposal is possible within the site."