Leisure and Cultural Services Department - Antiquties and Monuments Office

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Kowloon

Maryknoll Convent School, 130 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

Maryknoll Convent School was first established at Austin Road in 1925 as a kindergarten by the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic (originally named as "The Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic") coming to Hong Kong in 1921 with a mission to preach and to serve. With the opening of St. Teresa's Parish in 1931, the school management felt that Kowloon Tong, as a developing district, was an ideal place for Maryknoll Convent School. Construction of the new campus on Waterloo Road started in 1933.

In May 1936, Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884-1951), the then Governor of Hong Kong, laid the cornerstone of the Main Building of the School. One year later, the School moved to the new campus providing education for students from kindergarten to matriculation. It has been a landmark in the area since.

School operation was interrupted by the Second World War and the School was used as a Japanese military hospital from 1942 to 1945. Construction of the Convent next to the Main Building, which began before the Second World War, was finally completed in 1953. In 1960, the Secondary Section was moved to the new school building at 5 Ho Tung Road. Ever since, the Primary Section has remained in the Waterloo Road Main Building and occupied the Convent as well when it turned whole-day session in 1997.

The layout of the 1937-built Main Building adopts the medieval monastery or collegiate layout of an open peristyle courtyard surrounded by cloisters. The free neo-Tudor style of the school complex incorporates different features of architecture including Art Deco, Romanesque, Neo-Georgian and Gothic Revival. Vaulted ceiling of Romanesque style in the auditorium, the granite staircase facing Boundary Street, pointed arches, hipped or gambrel-shaped roofs and the single tower at the facade are notable features of the Main Building.

The setting and the 1937-built Main Building of the Maryknoll Convent School are preserved in a very good condition. No notable change or alteration has been made to the school building over the years. Old style furnishings and flooring can still be found in the Main Building. The well-kept landscape gardens also enhance the setting of the school complex.

With the support of the school and the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, the 1937-built Main Building and the Convent are declared as a monument for protection under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance in 2008.

Maryknoll Convent School
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