Hong Kong architectural gems saved from the wrecking ball - five you should see, from Lantau to the northern New Territories

Hong Kong does reclamation better than it handles renovation. It reveres brand-new, glittery structures of steel and glass rather than a centuries-old pile of bricks. Still, here and there across the city can be found more than 120 of what the government’s Antiquities and Monuments Office calls dedicated monuments – but which someone with a more poetic turn of phrase might describe as “treasures of Hong Kong”. These architectural gems have been left standing where dozens of other historic structures such as Queen’s Pier and the Hong Kong Club building erected in 1897 have been bulldozed in the pursuit of profit and progress. The Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park, Tsim Sha Tsui, for example, is housed in two former barrack blocks, shaded by towering banyans which must have been planted when the British army set up camp here in the 1890s. Why Hong Kong’s historical heritage buildings aren’t tourist draws It makes an excellent starting point for an alternative tour of Hong Kong via some of its “dedicated monuments”: 1. Fat Tat Tong, Sha Tau Kok Nothing blighted the New Territories quite so much as the small-house policy, introduced 50 years ago, that granted indigenous adult male villagers the right to build a home in their own backyard. Down came the sympathetically designed, picturesque houses that had stood the test of time, up went battalions of dreary, boxy three-storey “Spanish” villas. One heroic survivor is Fat Tat Tong – The Hall of Prosperity – which stands south of Sha Tau Kok Road in the otherwise workaday hamlet of Ha Wo Hang. Looking a little less spick and span than when Li To-wan, who’d earned a pile of money working in Vietnam, built it in 1933, the residence’s graceful lines are still plain to see. Its two storeys are capped by a Hakka-style pitched roof and fronted by a flat-roofed veranda – handy for catching the breeze in pre-air-conditioned days. Remarkably, Li’s descendants still live in Fat Tat Tong, but are usually disinclined to invite casual visitors in for a look-see. Nearby lunch spot: sticking to the heritage theme, the Better ’Ole, a British-style pub founded in 1947, is one stop up the MTR line from Fanling, in Sheung Shui. 35-39 Fu Hing Street; 2639 2286 2. Old Stanley Police Station Hong Kong’s original police stations were built like mini forts, and built to last – witness the former Tai O police station and former marine police headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui, both of which have been turned into snazzy boutique hotels. This would have been a suitable fate for Stanley’s one-time lock-up too; however, since it was decommissioned in 1974, it has been used as offices by a variety of government departments and is now – ignominiously – ParknShop’s most historic supermarket. Interested parties have suggested a museum or a restaurant or some sort of artisanal enterprise might be a more decorous use, so far to no avail. At least this dedicated monument is open seven days a week and on most public holidays. Admission is free and the original wooden floors, domed ceiling (over the former armoury) and cast-iron fireplaces are still in plain view, as is the building’s stout colonnaded veranda, which would seem to have altered little since its construction in 1859. Nearby lunch spot: the village’s long-established go-to international restaurant, Lucy’s, is flourishing under Henry, its new manager, after whom it has been renamed. 64 Stanley Main Street; 2813 9055 3. Tung Chung Fort There’s a distinct air of Ozymandias about Tung Chung Fort, recalling the boastful mythical potentate who was eventually overtaken by the ravages of time. The granite walls raised as a bulwark against roving buccaneers in the 12th century have shrunk into insignificance beside the towering ranks of housing blocks on the other side of the road, while its battery of muzzle-loading cannons – state-of-the-art weaponry when they were cast – nowadays look like so many pop guns. The fort has had a chequered history, partly thanks to its location on the outer fringe of Hong Kong. Pirates moved in when the military moved out in the 19th century. Colonial British police officers found it served as a handy forward base, as did the imperial Japanese army when it was trying to subdue Lantau’s more independently minded residents during the war years. Best of all, Tung Chung Fort is genuine, with neither a gift shop nor a historical re-enactment in sight, which makes exploring it all the more enticing. Come here on a weekday and other visitors can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. Nearby lunch spot: five minutes’ walk west of the fort, Handi is a totally unpretentious restaurant with gracious staff that serves tasty Punjabi cuisine. 8A Ha Ling Pei Village, Tung Chung Road; 2988 8674 4. Race Course Memorial, Eastern Hospital Road This year marks the centenary of the erection of the memorial to the 600 or more victims of the fire that engulfed the stands at Happy Valley Racecourse on Derby Day in February 1918. Thousands had flocked to watch the races but a temporary grandstand collapsed, knocking over cooking pots which turned bamboo matting into an inferno in minutes. Most of the dead were so badly burned as to be unrecognisable, so it was decided that a mass memorial would be a fitting tribute. There are two good reasons for visiting this almost forgotten corner of Hong Kong, apart from paying respects to those who died in one of the city’s worst peacetime accidents. The first is that it is tucked up on the hill to the east of the stadium at So Kon Po, it’s an almost surreal haven of solitude; the second is to admire the agglomeration of pavilions, pagodas, terraces and parapets whose design by Public Works Department employee Ho Sheung so neatly marries traditional Chinese and classical Western architectural elements. Nearby lunch spot: when regulars heard that the ultra-Cantonese Pang’s Kitchen had been awarded a Michelin star, the general reaction was “that’s news?”. 25 Yik Yam Street, Happy Valley; 2838 5462 5. Former Yamen Building of Kowloon Walled City Kowloon Walled City Park must rank as Hong Kong’s most successful makeover. A Qing dynasty fortification occupied the site in 1847, but when the military marched north at the end of the 19th century it became a no-man’s land favoured by criminal elements, drug addicts, unregistered medical practitioners and the generally impoverished living on the margins of society. It had become a vast urban slum by the time the government decided to demolish it in 1987, a measure several hundred stubborn residents fought in vain. Fast forward three decades and all that remains of the former eyesore is the Yamen building, where the city-within-in-a-city’s officials hung out. Its three halls and two courtyards, furnished in grey brick, are elegant but attractively simple and it has been used as an old people’s home, a clinic and a school. “Urban oasis” may be a cliché, but it fits the old Yamen building precisely. Nearby lunch spot: Islam Food continues to do a roaring trade after 72 years in business. 33-35 Tak Ku Ling Road; 2382 1882