Fanling Lodge

Fanling Lodge in 1973
Access to Fanling Lodge from Hong Kong Golf Club
Mountain Lodge on Victoria Peak (pictured, left) was replaced by Fanling Lodge as the summer residence of the Governors of Hong Kong.
The architectural style of "The Pantiles" (pictured), a block of flats in Hampstead Garden Suburb of London, has been compared to the style of the main building of Fanling Lodge. Both buildings were completed in 1934.
The nearby Fanling Clubhouse (pictured) of the Hong Kong Golf Club was granted a Grade II historic building status in September 2014, while Fanling Lodge was listed as a Grade I building.

Fanling Lodge (Chinese: 港督粉嶺別墅) is an official residence of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, which serves as a country house and occasionally hosts official functions.[1] Built in 1934 as a summer residence for the then Governor of Hong Kong, Fanling Lodge was granted a Grade I historic building status in 2014, amid concerns about its inclusion within a new town development plan.

Location

Fanling Lodge is located in the Kam Tsin area of the New Territories in Hong Kong, near Fanling and Kwu Tung. It is situated in a 2.3-hectare (5.7-acre)[2] wooded lot within the grounds of Hong Kong Golf Club,[3] off Castle Peak Road - Kwu Tung.[4]

Official residence

In 1932, citing the high expense for repairs and maintenance on Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of the Governor of Hong Kong on Victoria Peak, Governor Sir William Peel proposed constructing a new summer residence in Fanling.[5] Completed in 1934, Fanling Lodge served as a weekend and holiday retreat for the Governors of Hong Kong.[6] Mountain Lodge was eventually demolished in 1946. Fanling Lodge remained as an official government residence after the handover in 1997[5] and as of 2015 remains the alternate residence of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.[7][8]

A helicopter pad (WB16) is located on the lawn of the home and allows the Chief Executive to travel to the lodge from Government House, the main Hong Kong residence.[4][9][10]

Tung Chee-hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, was criticized by the Democratic Party at the end of 1997 for not using Fanling Lodge. Critics demanded that he consider giving up this government property.[11] Since that time, the relevance of Fanling Lodge as an official residence has been questioned recurrently during Legislative Council debates. Opponents object that the provision of such a residence to the Chief Executive is an unnecessary perk, and that another use should be found for the building.[1][7]

At the end of 1997, the combined upkeep cost of Fanling Lodge and Government House, both seldom used, was HK$13 million a year. About 58 domestic staff were employed to maintain the two official residences.[11] It was reported in 2005, at the beginning of the tenure of Donald Tsang as Chief Executive, that two permanent staff were employed at Fanling Lodge.[12] The maintenance cost incurred by the Architectural Services Department for the upkeep of the Lodge amounted to HK$ 856,000 for the 2010–2015 period.[8]

History

Fanling Lodge was designed in 1933 by government architect Stanley Feltham of the Public Works Department of Hong Kong. Its construction was completed in 1934 at a cost of HK$140,000. It was used as a summer residence of the Governor of Hong Kong until the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II.[6] Governor Sir William Peel, who had proposed the construction of the lodge, had a keen interest in golf and horse riding, and he often made the Fanling Lodge available to the garden parties of the Fanling Hunt and Race Club, that was managing the nearby Kwanti Racecourse.[13]

After the War, it was used as a provisional campus of the Rural Teachers' Training College (香港官立鄉村師範專科學校)[14] between September 1946[15] and 1948. Later, being considered too close to the Chinese border in a Cold War context - the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, it was assigned to the British armed forces until 1960.[5] It subsequently returned to its initial function as an alternate official residence.[6]

In the years preceding the 1997 handover, Fanling Lodge served as a venue for secret discussions between China and the United Kingdom, outside of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group.[6][16][17] The Lodge has also hosted visiting dignitaries: famous guests have included Prince Charles in 1994[18] and British Prime Minister John Major in 1996.[9] Minor building renovations were made in 2005.[12]

Architecture

Fanling Lodge is a two-storey house.[9] It features four bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a wood-and-stone pergola, a swimming pool and a tennis court.[12] Additional buildings include a guardhouse and a Chinese-style pavilion.[3] Its architectural style is an eclectic mixture of styles: it includes Arts and Crafts, Spanish Mission Revival and "Hollywood Moderne" styles, together with classical elements such as Corinthian columns and Serlian arches. Similarities have been noted between the architectural style of the main building and that of "The Pantiles", a block of flats built in Hampstead Garden Suburb of London in 1934 and designed by the British architect James Bertie Francis Cowper.[6][19]

Garden

The garden of the Lodge was designed in the Arts and Crafts style.[6] Tree species include Magnolia grandiflora, Melaleuca quinquenervia, Eucalyptus citriodora, Livistona chinensis and Bougainvillea spectabilis.[4] These species are relatively common in Hong Kong.[20]

Conservation

Concerns have been raised that Fanling Lodge and the nearby Hong Kong Golf Club Fanling Clubhouse, built in 1914,[21] may be demolished for the development of a new town in the area.[22][9] Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po stated in July 2013 that the Lodge and the Golf Club might be replaced by a housing project.[23] In this context, the Antiquities Advisory Board listed Fanling Lodge as a Grade I historic building and Fanling Clubhouse as a Grade II historic building in September 2014.[24] Thus, the two historic buildings may be preserved and incorporated into future new town developments.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 Legislative Council of Hong Kong Finance Committee (June 2009). "Report on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2009-2010" (PDF). Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "LCQ17: Sites in Hong Kong available for development". Government of Hong Kong. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 Ng, Joyce (7 August 2013). "Heritage advisers to rate historic political retreat Fanling Lodge". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd (April 2013). "Agreement No. CE 61/2007 (CE). North East New Territories New Development Areas Planning and Engineering Study - Investigation". Environmental Protection Department. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Interpretation study on the site of former Mountain Lodge and its surrounding areas, December 2011
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Antiquities Advisory Board: Historic Building Appraisal. Item N88
  7. 1 2 Legislative Council of Hong Kong (29 April 2015). "Official Record of Proceedings" (PDF). Hong Kong Hansard. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Controlling Officer's Reply (Question Serial No. 3622)" (PDF). Architectural Services Department. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Wong, Olga (7 July 2013). "Hong Kong Golf Club open to losing Fanling courses to housing, lawmaker says". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  10. ↑ GovHK GeoInfo Map is displaying the helipad as "WB16-Fanling Lodge (Lawn) Helicopter Landing Pad"
  11. 1 2 Szeto, Wanda (6 October 1997). "Housing critics lodge complaint on empty retreat". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 Ma, Raymond (14 August 2005). "Tsang's weekend residence gets $1.3m facelift too". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Chung King Lam, Choi Ming Sum. "Racing and the City: Hong Kong's History of Urban Development and Spatial Planning with Three Racecourses"
  14. ↑ Leung, Chun-ying (17 November 2013). "Alumni of Rural Training College return to Fanling Lodge". Chief Executive of Hong Kong. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Sweeting, Anthony (1993). A Phoenix Transformed: The Reconstruction of Education in Post-War Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780195855203.
  16. ↑ Ng, Joyce (7 August 2013). "Joseph Yam recalls lodge role in history". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  17. ↑ Yam, Joseph (17 September 2009). ""Home return" experiences". Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "Les Intrus". Le Soir (in French). 8 November 1994. Archived from the original on July 18, 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  19. ↑ The Pantiles, Finchley Road at historicengland.org.uk
  20. ↑ Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd (October 2011). "Summary of plant species recorded within Study Area at Diamond Hill" (PDF). Environmental Protection Department. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  21. ↑ Historic Building Appraisal. Item N210
  22. 1 2 Fung, Fanny W.Y.; Wong, Olga (5 March 2014). "Heritage grading of colonial-era landmarks may stall golf club housing plans". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  23. ↑ Fung, Fanny W. Y. (5 December 2013). "Antiquities board to grade historic Fanling lodge and club". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  24. ↑ List of new items and new categories with assessment results (as at 4 June 2015)
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Coordinates: 22°29′54″N 114°07′00″E / 22.4984°N 114.1167°E / 22.4984; 114.1167

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