Kowloon Union Church, one of the earliest inter-denominational churches in Hong Kong, was built by the London Missionary Society with financial support from Sir Paul Chater. The foundation stone was laid on 27 May 1930 by the then Colonial Secretary, W.T. Southorn, and the church was officially opened on 10 April 1931 by the then Governor Sir William Peel. During the Japanese Occupation, the church ceased to function and the building was converted into a horse stable by the Japanese army and suffered severe looting and damage. The church was opened again for public worship with a rededication service held on 19 October 1947 and continues to serve the community until now.
The church possesses “Perpendicular Gothic” architectural features, with pitched Chinese-tiled roof, red load-bearing brick walls and contrasting grey granite steps and window surrounds. A semi-circular apse and an attached three-storey battlemented tower are built at the two ends of the church respectively.
The square battlemented tower with pointed arch doorway surround and foundation stone at the base is designed to serve as the main entrance to the church. It is of fair-face red brickwork with carved granite ornaments and trimmings. There is also a concrete flat roof topped with a crenelated low parapet wall.
The windows of the church are set in decorative granite framing in the form of trefoil-headed tracery. The window frames are of wrought-iron and there are angular carved hoods above the windows. The windows of top floor of the battlemented tower are with stone louvers. The elegant double hammer-beam timber roof trusses with carved granite corbel supports are a rare and dominant feature of the spacious interior of the main hall of the church.
Kowloon Union Church was declared a monument in 2017.