Built in 1859, the Old Stanley Police Station is the oldest surviving police station in Hong Kong. In the early years after it was built, the British Army and the police force used it from time to time because of its strategic location as the most southerly outpost on Hong Kong Island. During the Japanese Occupation (1941-1945), the Japanese Gendarmerie occupied the station as its local headquarters, and a mortuary was built onto the building. After the war, the building resumed its original role as a police station until 1974. It was then used as the sub-offices of several government departments and rented out to tenants for various purposes.
The Old Stanley Police Station is a simple two-storey structure. The facade of the building is dominated by colonnaded open verandahs that give the front elevation a Classical appearance. The dome-shaped ceiling of the original gunroom constructed in brick and fireplaces can still be seen in the building today.
Old Stanley Police Station was declared a monument in 1984.