The former Central School's foundations discovered

Extent of school find revealed

About 40 per cent of the former Central School's foundations have been discovered within the area occupied by the former Police Married Quarters in Hollywood Road, but the government's antiquities adviser has suggested that only a small portion of them be preserved.

The Antiquities and Monuments Office released a report on the find last night.

The foundations, found partially preserved beneath a car park, had been disturbed by the construction of the police quarters in 1948, reducing their aesthetic and academic research value, the report said.

"As the foundations have been considerably disturbed ... their overall heritage value has also been diminished to such a degree that total in situ preservation cannot be justified," it said.

It recommended that a small portion of the foundations be preserved for integration into future development on the site.

The Central School, set up in 1862 on Gough Street, was attended by the founder of modern China, Sun Yat-sen, as a teenager. It moved to the Hollywood Road site in 1889. The school was the first government institution offering upper primary and secondary education.

The report recommended that excavation of the foundations, which cover 600 square metres of the site, should not be continued, as it could affect surrounding tree walls and the stability of underground features.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, in his policy address last month, announced a halt to the sale of the site for one year. He also said proposals for revitalisating the site would be invited.

Besides the foundation, the school's playground, remnants of small entrances, old stone steps - and underground structures that matched the layout and basement floor plans attached to an 1883 report proposing construction of the new Central School - were also found.

No remains of the Shing Wong Temple, thought to have been on the site before the school, were unearthed, however.

University of Hong Kong architectural conservation programme director Lee Ho-yin said uncovering the remains of the historic school was a "rare discovery" in Hong Kong.

He said the foundations and other remnants should be preserved so people could see part of Hong Kong's history. He suggested the site should be open space and the former police quarters kept for community use.

Central and Western Concern Group spokeswoman Katty Law Ngar-ning said she was exhilarated by the excavation results.

"It is a significant event to unearth historic relics in a bustling city centre," she said.

"The government should think of ways to incorporate the features into future developments."