HA’s historic buildings: gateways to the past

What memories does Queen Mary Hospital Nurses Quarters hold for the ‘angels in white’ who spent time living there?

How do the advanced operations of HA’s Information Technology Department align with the Grade 2 historic status of its home in Kowloon Hospital’s Block R?

And what is the story behind a special stone that sits in the grounds of St John Hospital?

While every building under the Hospital Authority’s network of 42 public hospitals and institutions has a vital role to play, some also serve as modern-day repositories of times past, and enrich the timeline of healthcare development in Hong Kong. People move on, but memories linger. This issue of HASLink sees HA veterans share some of the personal stories these historic buildings hold for them.

A quaint building on the left is the Queen Mary Hospital Nurses Quarters which has 70 years of history, most of the nursing student have the unforgettable memories in here.

Happy memories in the nurses quarters

Nurses Quarters at Queen Mary Hospital (Grade 2)

Now listed as a Grade 2 Historic Building, the Nurses Quarters Block A at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) began life as a home away from home for student nurses at the hospital. Janet Ng, currently Department Operations Manager (O&T) at QMH, is among those who resided there as a trainee.

Built in 1937, the building originally only had four floors, with the fifth floor being added at a later date. Janet came to QMH as a nursing student in 1980 and stayed in Block A during her second and third years of study. Visiting the building brings back many happy memories. “The old canteen was to the left on the ground floor and provided three meals a day for all nursing students. The food was pretty good – especially the beef and potato pie and the sago-lotus paste pudding which were delicious. The meal with baby pigeon offered at Christmas was also very tasty,” she recalls.

“Besides the regular set meals, there was also a special ‘IC set’ for the morning shift’s in-charge nurse who missed the lunch because she had to hand over duties to colleagues,” Janet says. “This special meal was often something like ham and eggs with rice.” She quips that the female canteen staff would regularly dish up larger portions for the male nursing students! Now operated by an external contractor, the QMH staff restaurant offers a wider choice of dishes, but has lost some of these more familial-like personal touches.

The home office for the Quarters was located in the central part of the ground floor. Janet says: “It used to be managed by nursing staff – many of whom we ended up calling ‘Mum’!” And much like mothers, these nurses would often check on the cleanliness of their charges’ rooms. “If the cleaning staff heard there was an inspection due, all the rooms would get a particularly thorough clean that day,” she laughs.

Janet lived in a large three-person room on the third floor. The room had French windows that opened onto a spacious balcony. She explains that the balcony was an excellent vantage point. “Particularly for seeing all the men patiently waiting downstairs for their girlfriends!”

A group of nursing students got the guts, climbed up to the highest point to take photo in the quarters on the first floor balcony!

No matter Janet is wearing pink uniform as nursing student or the white uniform as a manager, she both looks like very professional.

A historic treasure chest

Kowloon Hospital (Grade 2)

The news that the Grade 2-listed Block M at Kowloon Hospital (KH) is to be used as offices has reported by the media. What is less well-known is that there are 10 blocks at the hospital with historic building status, including Blocks A, B, C, P and R, which is the office of Information Technology Division, they all rated at Grade 2.

Kowloon’s first government hospital, KH opened on 24 December 1925 in an area that was formerly known as Tai Shek Ku. Hospital Foreman Ng Pui-kwan joined KH in 1989. The hospital’s facilities at that time could not compete with those of the new Prince of Wales Hospital where Ng had previously worked. What made KH stand out from many other hospitals in Hong Kong, however, was its mixture of Chinese and Western classical architecture, the low-density layout of its site and the provision of green spaces of a size rarely found in urban areas.

Grade 2-listed Block R – built in 1934 – was originally nurses quarters but is now used as HA’s IT department office. “When the block was still staff quarters, I was responsible for all types of repair work, including furniture such as cabinets and beds,” says Ng. “The old beds had no wheels, so it was difficult to move them from the wards to Block R.”

Rising demand for a maternity ward at the hospital led to the construction of Block M – for ‘maternity’ – in 1932. Despite original intentions, the rapid increase in all types of in-patient cases meant the building was used as a general block for female patients once completed. As with other older blocks at KH, the long corridor balcony, the cow horn-shaped curled ends at the roof edges and the grey brickwork columns are among Block M’s most striking architectural features.

Block A The unique lion head door knocker	Block A A fireplace
Block A A corridor and staircase
Block R This tree was planted by Ng Pui-kwan over 10 years ago.	Block A Ng Pui-kwan (centre) and his colleagues joined the Christmas party at Block A in 1993.

European architecture houses community-focused care

St John Hospital (Grade 3)

About 10 minutes’ walk from Cheung Chau pier towards the Tung Wan Beach sits a three-storey coffee-coloured building. The ‘moon-gate’ door at the entrance is typically Chinese, but its stained-glass windows hint at Western influences. Inside, Roman-style colonnades and arches support high ceilings. For those not in the know, it would be difficult to guess that this is Cheung Chau’s only hospital.

The hospital building began life as several residential villas that were then donated to the Hong Kong St John Ambulance by philanthropists Mr Aw Boon-haw and Mr Aw Boon-par and converted into a uberculosis sanatorium that opened in 1934. As its service scope expanded over the years, the hospital developed into two buildings – the Main Block and Out-patient Block. St John Hospital (SJH) now has 29 in-patient and day-patient beds, offering 24-hour accident & emergency service, general and specialist out-patient services, allied health services and community nursing service. There are over 130 staff members working in SJH. Various specialist out-patient clinics under the Department of Health are located in the hospital to serve the community.

A Cheung Chau native, Senior Hospital Foreman Wilson Li has worked at SJH for 30 years, during which time he has witnessed many changes. “The original design of the kitchen meant we had to wash the vegetables outside. It was a very hard job, especially on hot and humid or rainy days,” he says. “The first lift was installed in the year I joined the hospital – I never imagined it would retire before me!”

Li explains that most of the staff at the hospital live on Cheung Chau, meaning that patients are generally their friends and neighbours. “Doctor-patient relationships are therefore often as close as those between family members,” he adds.

The stained-glass windows in the ‘moon-gate’ are an original feature of its design.	The boundary stone in front of the hospital kitchen has colonial roots. The story goes that the former British government planned to develop the southern part of Cheung Chau into a prestigious residential area and set up 15 boundary stones as part of its preparations. The stone at SJH is number 14./p>
Wilson (right) and his colleague Kitty Law have been working together for 20 years.

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals tell history with style

Tung Wah Museum (Declared Monuments)
Main Block of Tung Wah Hospital (Grade 1)

Tung Wah Eastern Hospital (Grade 2)

Any discussion of historically significant hospital buildings in Hong Kong has to include the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals – particularly the Tung Wah Museum building at Kwong Wah Hospital (KWH), Tung Wah Hospital and Tung Wah Eastern Hospital.

Originally serving as the lobby of KWH in 1911, Tung Wah Museum is characterised by its blend of Chinese and Western architectural features – from the exquisitely carved floral and auspicious motifs on its wooden eaves to the camelback truss system along its verandah. Most of the Western architectural elements – which also include bull’s eye and segmented-arch windows – are found on the building’s side and rear elevations.

Stephen Lai, Department Operations Manager of Department of Neurosurgery at KWH, reveals that the Museum is also the venue for a little-known ritual that is held twice a year. “Every summer and autumn, our Hospital Chief Executive and the senior management attend a ceremony to honour Shennong, which known as the ‘Divine Farmer’ and often referred to as the God of Chinese herbal medicine, and to pray for the good health of colleagues and patients. It’s also an expression of our deep affection for KWH.”

Cheng Chiu-chun, Department Operations Manager of KWH’s Department of Medicine & Geriatrics; and Ngai Wing-yee, Department Operations Manager of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Operating Theatre Services, have both worked at KWH for nearly 40 years. “At the very beginning, the second floor of the temple was used as a classroom for nursing students. But by the time we joined the hospital, it had already been converted into offices,” they say.

Tung Wah Hospital and Tung Wah Eastern Hospital also boast their own unique styles. Completed in 1872, the Tung Wah Hospital building still retains a traditional Chinese look, including the wide array of large porcelain plaques that are displayed in the hall. And being built nearly 60 years later in 1929, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital’s architecture features a curved design.

(From left to right) Ngai Wing-yee, Stephen Lai and Cheng Chiu-chun say that the Tung Wah Museum provides an excellent overview of the historical development of medical services in Hong Kong.
This photograph, taken on International Nurses Day 2013, features some of the many porcelain plaques that hang in the hall of Tung Wah Hospital.	Tung Wah Eastern Hospital’s use of classical architectural features in a modern way is strongly reminiscent of Neoclassical design. (photo provided by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals)

CKHC reveal fascinating features of past lives

Central Kowloon Health Centre (Grade 2)

The Hospital Authority has been managing all General Out-patient Clinics (GOPC) since 2003, but a number of them have a much longer history.

Located at the bottom of Argyle Street, Central Kowloon Health Centre (CKHC) was built in 1935. Nurse Harris Chan has been working at Kowloon Hospital for over 10 years before being transferred to his current position at CKHC. “The most striking feature of CKHC is its high ceilings – up to 11 metres – which make the clinic very cool even without the air-conditioning system,” he explains. “The store room includes a 100-square-foot space that may have served as a dugout shelter during World War II. There is also a 1960s strong box and a heavy wood door with a solid wooden lock that are still in use.”

A suspected World War II dugout shelter now has become a store room today.

A 1960s safe box is still in use today, but for saving coins only.

Stanley GOPC: from military operations to medical care

Stanley General Out-patient Clinic (Grade 3)

The present-day home of Stanley General Out-patient Clinic (GOPC) was the property of a wealthy local family in1930s. The building’s early years of public service included a stint as the British military command centre before it became a maternity home that included accommodation on the third floor for overnight patients. This latter use is recalled fondly by some of the GOPC’s elderly patients, who remark with a smile, “I was born here!”

The Hospital Authority took over the clinic from the Department of Health in 2003. It continued to provide maternal and child health services every Tuesday morning until 2005, when the low birth rate in the district led to the decision to discontinue such services. The ground floor and attic of the building provide GOPC services. The basement was previously used as a Government staff vacation property, but is no longer rented out due to a recurring issue with snakes!

One unusual aspect of the building’s structure is that there are several staircases on each floor that lead to different locations – a feature that may reflect the building’s time as an important part of military operations in Hong Kong.

Historic buildings of HA hospitals