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The Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound (Chinese: 前水警總部), constructed in 1884, is located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The site is now officially renamed as 1881 Heritage.
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The Kowloon compound used to be occupied by the Marine Police, now a unit within the Hong Kong Police Force, since its establishment until late 1996, when it was moved to Sai Wan Ho.
The compound is a declared monument since 1994 as it is one of the four oldest surviving government buildings in Hong Kong. The Compound and the Old Kowloon Fire Station have been re-developed into a heritage hotel with food and beverage outlets and retail facilities in a project headed by architect Daniel Lin of A+T Design, opened in 2009.
History
The former Marine Police Headquarters was constructed in 1884. It comprises a main building, a stable block and a signal tower. It has been used by the Marine Police, except for the Japanese Occupation (1941–1945) when the compound was used as a base by the Japanese navy.
During the Japanese Occupation period, extensive underground tunnels were constructed beneath the lawn but after World War II, these tunnels were blocked and the lawn was returfed for the safety of public.
In the 1970s the compound lost a large part of its grounds, when the slope was levelled to make way for the construction of Kowloon Park Drive.
The station was colloquially referred to as T-Lands Police Station – probably a reference to Marine Police brevity code for a marine police station on "Land" at "Tsim Sha Tsui". This name is used in at least two novels based in Hong Kong: “Soldier of Fortune” by Ernest K. Gann published in 1954. and "Dragon Flame" by Nick Carter published in 1966.
Main building
The main building was originally a two-storey structure; an extra storey was added to the Main Building in the 1920s. The south-east and south-west wings of the main building served as married quarters.
The Signal Tower
The Signal Tower, commonly known as Round House, was constructed to provide time signals to ships in the harbour. Its use diminished in 1907 when the time ball apparatus was removed to Signal Hill, Kowloon.
Redevelopment
The Government announced, on 23 May 2003, that Flying Snow Limited, a subsidiary of Cheung Kong Holdings, had won the 50-year land grant at a tendered price of $352.8 million from six proposals for the tender. The approval allowed the developer to preserve and redevelop the historical building into a heritage tourism facility. Flying Snow has transformed the building into a heritage hotel with food and beverage outlets, and retail facilities.
The project was the first attempt by the Tourism Commission to engage the private sector to preserve antiquities by revamping them into a tourist attraction. The project opened as 1881 Heritage in 2009.