Old Tai O Police Station

Tai O had long been seen as a strategic harbour area in the Hong Kong region. On 4 August 1855, British naval forces from the China Station defeated a pirate fleet at the Battle of Ty-ho Bay.{{cite web |url=http://www.arounddb.com/life-on-lantau-articles/dispatch/wild-times-former-marine-policemen-les-bird-and-the-tai-o-heritage-hotel/ |title=Dispatch: Wild times: Former Marine Policemen Les Bird and the Tai O Heritage Hotel |last=Sherwood |first=Peter |date=1 December 2019 |website=arounddb.com |publisher=Bay Media Publishing |access-date=26 December 2019 }} The police station was built in 1902 with a main duty of combating piracy and smuggling prevalent in the neighbouring waters.

On 17 July 1918, Police Sergeant Thomas Cecil Glendinning was shot to death by Constable Teja Singh in the Charge Room of the police station where Sergeant Glendinning and his family were residing. The murder occurred following a hostage situation where Constable Singh had taken Sergeant Glendinning hostage at the station along with his wife and child.{{cite web |url=https://www.police.gov.hk/offbeat/788/eng/n10.htm |title=Provisional List Hong Kong Police Deaths in the Course of Duty (1841-1941) |date=2019 |website=police.gov.hk |publisher=Royal Hong Kong Police Force |access-date=26 December 2019 }} The incident was resolved after police located Constable Singh who had fled the scene and took his own life.{{cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1767554/murder-tai-o-police-officer-gunned-down-cold-blood-one-his |title=Murder in Tai O: how police officer was gunned down in cold blood by one of his own men in 1918 |last=Whitehead |first=Kate |date=18 April 2015 |website=scmp.com |publisher=South China Morning Post |access-date=26 December 2019 }}

In 1940, Detective Constable Hing Ip of the Tai O station was shot and killed by robbers while on duty at Tai O.

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, local resistance forces and triad members led by Wong Kei-tsai began a smuggling operation in the area bringing food and salt to Lantau from Mainland China. The Tai O Police Station was briefly captured by local guerrilla forces before being retaken by the Japanese Army.

The number of policemen stationed there increased from an initial six or seven to over 180 in 1983. The station was downgraded to a patrol post in 1996, and was left vacant in 2002.[http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/AAB_brief_info_en.pdf Introduction to 1444 Historic Buildings, p. 392] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013022841/http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/AAB_brief_info_en.pdf |date=2012-10-13 }}

Higher on the same hill are the Tai O Barracks of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison,[http://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/register/report/eiareport/eia_1252006/html/eiareport/Part2/Section5/Images/fig%205.3b.pdf Map showing the location of Old Tai O Police Station and Tai O Barracks]Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, [http://www.royalasiaticsociety.org.hk/newsletters/2012/2012_07.pdf July 2012 Newsletter, pp. 6-8] formerly known before the handover as Naval Coastal Observation Station, Tai O.Gwulo: Old Hong Kong. [http://gwulo.com/node/7060 Military Sites of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison]

The police station consists of two 2-storey blocks: a main block and an outhouse block linked by a footbridge at first floor level. The outhouse block has Arts and Crafts architectural features.

The Old Tai O Police Station was listed as a Grade III historic building in 1988, and as a Grade II historic building in 2009.Antiquities and Monuments Office: [http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/AAB-SM-chi.pdf List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment (as of 23 November 2011)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922201550/http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/AAB-SM-chi.pdf |date=22 September 2013 }} In 2008, it was included among the seven buildings in Batch I of the Hong Kong Government's Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme seeking adaptive reuse of government-owned historic buildings.[http://www.heritage.gov.hk/en/rhbtp/buildings.htm Conserve and Revitalise Hong Kong Heritage: Batch I of Revitalisation Scheme]

In the end, the government accepted the redevelopment proposal of the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation to convert the building into a boutique hotel. The HKHCF was initially set up under the name Nice Brilliant Limited in December 2007, and changed its name in March 2008. The HKHCF has close ties to Robert Ng's Sino Group, and two of his children sit on its board. Legislator Fernando Cheung accused them of being a "one-man NGO" set up for business purposes rather than social service.{{citation|title=Developer sets up NGO to bid for heritage site: Sino Land wants to turn Old Tai O Police Station into boutique hotel|periodical=South China Morning Post|first=Joyce|last=Ng|first2=Olga|last2=Wong|date=2008-10-08}} The conversion project is planned for completion at the end of 2011, with an estimated cost of HK$64.9 million.{{citation|url=http://www.heritage.gov.hk/en/rhbtp/ProgressResult_Tai_O_Police_Station.htm|title=Batch I of Revitalisation Scheme: Result of selection|date=2008-02-17|access-date=2010-03-17|publisher=Commissioner for Heritage's Office, Development Bureau}}

The Old Tai O Police Station was transformed into the boutique, nine-room Tai O Heritage Hotel, and is curated and managed by the HKHCF.

• Robert Ng, for debated issues about the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation Ltd.
• Historic police station buildings in Hong Kong

{{Reflist|2}}

{{commons}}

• [http://www.heritage.gov.hk/en/rhbtp/febs.htm?bsIDE7 Virtual visit of Old Tai O Police Station]
• [http://www.hkheritage.org/en/projects_taio_description.asp Project description by the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation Ltd.]
• [http://www.taioheritagehotel.com/eng/homepage/ShowGallery Tai O Heritage Hotel]

{{Lantau Island}}

{{Islands District}}

{{Heritage conservation in Hong Kong |state=collapsed}}

Category:Tai O

Tai O

Category:Defunct police stations

Category:Government buildings completed in 1902

Category:Grade III historic buildings in Hong Kong

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