Fanling Lodge

Fanling Lodge is located in the Kam Tsin area of the New Territories in Hong Kong, near Fanling and Kwu Tung. It is situated in a wooded lot within the grounds of Hong Kong Golf Club, off Castle Peak Road - Kwu Tung. ==Official residence==

on Victoria Peak (pictured, left) was replaced by Fanling Lodge as the summer residence of the Governors of Hong Kong. In 1932, citing the high expense for repairs and maintenance on Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of the Governor of Hong Kong on Victoria Peak, Governor Sir William Peel proposed constructing a new summer residence in Fanling. Completed in 1934, Fanling Lodge served as a weekend and holiday retreat for the Governors of Hong Kong. Mountain Lodge was eventually demolished in 1946. Fanling Lodge remained as an official government residence after the handover in 1997 Tung Chee-hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, was criticised by the Democratic Party at the end of 1997 for not using Fanling Lodge. Critics demanded that he consider giving up this government property. It was reported in 2005, at the beginning of the tenure of Donald Tsang as Chief Executive, that two permanent staff were employed at Fanling Lodge. The maintenance cost incurred by the Architectural Services Department for the upkeep of the Lodge amounted to HK$856,000 for the 2010–2015 period. ==History==

Fanling Lodge was designed in 1933 by government architect Stanley Feltham of the Public Works Department of Hong Kong. Its construction was completed in 1934 at a cost of HK$140,000. It was used as a summer residence of the Governor of Hong Kong until the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. After the War, it was used as a provisional campus of the Rural Teachers' Training College (香港官立鄉村師範專科學校) between September 1946 and 1948. Later, being considered too close to the Chinese border in a Cold War context - the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, it was assigned to the British armed forces until 1960. and British Prime Minister John Major in 1996. Such discussions covered for example new accounting arrangements for monetary control, the linked exchange rate system, the establishment of a monetary authority for Hong Kong which was eventually established in 1993, and issues arising from a Sino-British Memorandum of Understanding signed concerning the construction of a new airport, now the Chek Lap Kok Airport. Minor building renovations were made in 2005. ==Architecture==

of London, has been compared to the style of the main building of Fanling Lodge. Both buildings were completed in 1934. The main building of Fanling Lodge is a two-storey bungalow. The property also features a swimming pool, a tennis court and a wood-and-stone pergola. Additional buildings include a guardhouse and a Chinese-style pavilion. ==Garden==

was granted a Grade II historic building status in September 2014, while Fanling Lodge was listed as a Grade I building. The garden of the Lodge was designed in the Arts and Crafts style of the British landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll. It features woodland with tall trees, vistas and terraced lawns front and back. The retaining walls around the back garden are a mix of local grey bricks and masonry. ==Conservation==

Concerns have been raised that Fanling Lodge and the nearby Hong Kong Golf Club Fanling Clubhouse, built in 1914, may be demolished for the development of a new town in the area. In this context, the Antiquities Advisory Board listed Fanling Lodge as a Grade I historic building and Fanling Clubhouse as a Grade II historic building in September 2014. Thus, the two historic buildings may be preserved and incorporated into future new town developments. ==References==