It’s finally open for public visits!

The High Street Haunted House is a beautiful colonial building standing on No. 2 High Street at the corner of High Street and Eastern Street. The restored façade of the former hospital rises beautifully above the food and dining establishment in the vicinity of Third Street, which lies just below High Street.

The proper name of the High Street Haunted House is the Sai Ying Pun Community Complex, now consisting of the façade of the old building and a new, modern community center that gives home to government offices and other community service providers. Some government sources refer to the heritage as the Old Mental Hospital.

It acquired its eerie reputation due to two historical facts. First, in the turn of the 20^th century, the complex was once Hong Kong’s largest hospital for the mentally ill. Second, the complex is rumored to have been the site of execution by the Japanese armed forces during World War II as well. The King George V park, across the street from the former hospital, was the site of a mass grave for the executed people.

The History of the High Street Haunted House

Early Beginnings

In 1892, construction for the Medical Staff Quarters of the Government Civil Hospital completed and began service. The government believed that the quiet location in Sai Ying Pun, away from the bustling commercial district on Queen’s Road in Central, would be a good choice for the health of the medical staff.

In 1906, additional quarters served as extended accommodation for more medical staff. Those structures lied on the eastern end of the original building, with the same granite finish as the original medical staff quarter to indicate unity in style and purpose.

Transition into a Mental Health Institute

Fast forward to the times before WWII, and the nurse quarters became a hospital for the mentally ill in 1939 or so. At the time, the Chinese Lunatic Asylum on Eastern Street (now the Old Methadone Clinic) was becoming overcrowded. Many mentally-ill Chinese patients were transferred from Hong Kong to the John Kerr Refuge for the Insane in Guangzhou for treatment. However, as Japanese forces occupied Guangzhou in 1938, the transfer was no longer possible. The nurses’ bedrooms were thus converted into wards for female patients at the Old Mental Hospital.

While official records say little about the building’s use during WWII, community consensus is that it was a military facility for the Japanese during the occupation years. The local understanding of any Japanese use of structures usually comes with speculations about brutality and executions of Chinese compatriots or resistance fighters. And rumors about these former sites used by the Japanese usually come with plenty of spookiness.

After the founding of New China in 1949, transfers of Hong Kong patients to Guangzhou facilities ceased permanently. In view of the pressing need to treat mentally ill patients, the government built the Castle Peak Hospital. It began service in 1961. With this development, the Old Mental Hospital then became an out-patient psychiatric clinic.  It served its final day in its historic role as a mental health institution in 1971.

Disrepair and Restoration

The building came into disuse when it closed its doors to all mental health services in 1971. During the two decades or so of vacancy and abandonment, the building suffered from frequent trespasses from urban explorers and the drug users that were receiving treatments in the old Methadone Clinic across the street. Two fires further destroyed the building.

By the 1990s, when talks began about its restoration, the roof was falling off. Due to cost and structural concerns, the government decided to only restore the façade.

In 2015, the Antiquities and Monuments Office gave the Old Mental Hospital the status of Declared Monument.

The Architecture of the High Street Haunted House

Danby & Leigh (now Leigh & Orange) served as the architect for the original medical staff quarters.

The former structure has two stories and originally it had only ten bedrooms. The restored façade is in L shape, with the long edge on High Street and the short edge on Eastern Street. Only this L-shape façade is preserved out of the original structure. It really only takes about ten minutes to admire the heritage. Yet the façade and the veranda that lies along High Street are both really beautiful.

According to descriptions on site, the building was designed in the Early Baroque style. Built of granite, the façade has stood the test of time. The lower level of the façade has a wide-arched veranda. It is also well-restored for visitors to walk through, and many people line up to take instagrammable pictures there. The pendant lights, the ceiling boards and the timber shutter doors were new additions during the renovation of 2002.

The Antiquities and Monuments Office has the following description on the structure’s other architectural features besides its granite finish:

The fine dressed ashlar mouldings, cornices, quoins and band courses provide an elegant contrast to the heavy rusticated granite blocks. Further graceful effects are achieved by the use of pediments, pinnacles, decorative parapets and ornamental wrought-ironwork balustrading to the verandahs. (The Antiquities and Monuments Office)

The outer finish of the two upper stories show rustic treatment of the granite blocks. The façade on Eastern Street shows beautiful arched entrance ways and windows with dark green window frames.

The spookiness that comes to associate with the structure is a vestige of history. It is haunted for what it stands for, but on its own the building has a classic beauty that is unusual even amongst the many colonial structures of Hong Kong.

A Suggested Itinerary on Nearby Heritage Sites

There are a number of buildings with colonial architecture in this area of Sai Ying Pun. For a quick one-hour walk, I suggest beginning on Western Street at King’s College. It prides itself on its red brick structure. Across the street from the King’s College is the Chinese Rhenish Church, a Grade 3 Historic Building. However, the church is not open for public visit during non-service hours.

Further down on the corner of Western Street and High Street lies the Kau Yan Church. This church is open for public visit during the weekdays. All these three buildings show vastly different architectural styles. They also stand for years of dedication to their respective missions and commitments to the community.

After touring these three sites, walk on High Street on the eastward direction to see the High Street Haunted House. Do note that the Old Chinese Lunatic Asylum (a Grade 3 Historic Building and it also served as a Methadone Clinic) stands across the building’s western façade on Eastern Street. The Methadone Clinic has also completed its historic role, and it no longer serves drug rehabilitation either. However, you may only see just a bit of that structure on Eastern Street.

Then finally, have lunch / tea / drinks in one of the many hip and cool dining establishments on Third Street.

Sources

Ruben Verebes, The Spooky High Street Haunted House in Sai Ying Pun, a Former Japanese Killing Site and Ghost, HangoutTheBeatHK, January 11, 2022.

The Wikipedia on the Sai Ying Pun Community Complex.

The Antiquities and Monuments Office, Declared Monuments in Hong Kong – Hong Kong Island, Façade of the Old Mental Hospital.

The Antiquities and Monuments Office, Heritage Appraisal for the Façade of the Old Mental Hospital.