Built in 1926, King’s College is one of the six surviving pre-war government school buildings in Hong Kong alongside the former Kowloon British School (built between 1900 and 1902), the former Peak School (built in 1915), the former Quarry Bay School (built in 1926), Cheung Chau Government Secondary School (built in 1928) and King George V School (built in 1936).
Construction of the present Bonham Road campus commenced in 1923 and was completed in 1926. The Administrative Report of the Hong Kong Government of 1926 describes King’s College as ‘one of the finest and most modern of school buildings’.
During the Japanese Occupation (1941-1945), the school was used as a military stable for mules and horses of the Imperial Japanese Army. The building was badly damaged during the war, and it did not reopen until 1950 when its refurbishment was completed.
When it was completed in 1926, the school comprised an east wing, a south wing and a north wing with a bell tower (now removed) above a colonnaded curved entrance porch at the junction of Bonham Road and Western Street. Designed in the Neo-classical style with arched colonnades, colonnaded verandahs, rusticated quoins, moulded cornices and classical stone surrounds, the red-brick building is a rare and fascinating example of school architecture and built heritage of this kind in Hong Kong.
King's College was declared a monument in 2011.