University Hall: An Old Castle, a Copper Spiral Staircase, and a Century of Brotherhood

# University Hall: A Castle, a Copper Spiral Staircase, and a Century of Brotherhood

University Hall (UHall), situated at 144 Pokfulam Road, is one of the oldest male residential halls at The University of Hong Kong. The building itself predates the university by a considerable margin—its origins trace back to a private castle-residence built by a Scottish merchant on the western side of Hong Kong Island in 1861. This article belongs to the 00–12 Reference Zone (factual); names are recorded as documented, and no credibility badges are assigned.

# 1. At a Glance

# 2. Pre-History of the Building (1861–1954)

# The Douglas Castle Period (1861–1894)

According to Wikipedia^※ and the HKU Heritage Fund^※, the main building of University Hall was built between 1861 and 1867 by the Scottish merchant Douglas Lapraik as a private villa. Perched above the western harbour of Hong Kong, its vantage point allowed him to observe the comings and goings of his shipping fleet. The castle had a footprint of roughly 2,000 square feet (about 186 m²), situated atop a hill with grounds extending around 900 m².

Douglas Lapraik was a representative Scottish merchant in the early colonial days of nineteenth-century Hong Kong. His interests spanned shipping, the watch trade, and property investment. His choice of a hilltop site in Pokfulam for a private residence was largely pragmatic for a shipping magnate: the summit commanded a panoramic view of the western waters of Victoria Harbour, enabling him to monitor his own vessels’ movements into and out of port at a glance. This utilitarian rationale explains why the "castle" was, for its time, built unusually far from the urban centre.

# The French Mission Period (1894–1954)

When a plague outbreak struck Hong Kong in 1894, Lapraik’s descendants sold the castle to the French Mission (Missions Étrangères de Paris). The mission renamed the building “Nazareth House” and carried out major expansions, adding a chapel, a library, and a printing house. The printing house reportedly produced some 60,000 volumes a year, covering 28 languages, making it one of the larger multilingual printing operations in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Hong Kong. Its output included religious texts, catechisms, and dictionaries of local vernaculars, serving a missionary network stretching across southern China and Southeast Asia. During the Second World War, occupying Japanese forces took over the building; it is said to have been used for detention or custodial purposes, though detailed documentary evidence awaits further corroboration from primary archival sources.

# Purchase by HKU (1954)

On 4 December 1954, HKU purchased the building for HK$1.6 million^※, initiating its conversion into a student hall of residence. The original chapel was turned into a dining hall, and the cellar became a common room.

# 3. History as a Hall of Residence (1956–Present)

In 1956, a group of approximately 52 male students from Eliot Hall, Morrison Hall, and Lugard Hall moved in, and University Hall was formally opened^※. It thus became an independent male residential hall, and has operated continuously as such ever since.

Among all HKU halls, University Hall is noted for possessing the smallest number of places in all of Hong Kong (around 110), as well as the most historically resonant architectural setting. Compared with other modern halls housing several hundred residents, University Hall fosters a uniquely tight-knit community. Its small size also means that in inter-hall sports leagues, debates, and cultural competitions, University Hall frequently punches above its weight. Successive campus observers have often remarked that its residents’ identification with hall honour, and their turnout for competitive events, tend to surpass that found in larger halls where communal bonds are inherently more diffuse.

# 4. Architectural Features

University Hall’s architecture reflects the English Tudor and Gothic Revival styles^※. The registered site area is approximately 310,000 square feet (roughly 28,800 m²). The exterior features a lateral tower; internally, the south tower forms the core and houses a distinctive copper spiral staircase—reportedly one of only two such staircases in all of Hong Kong, and one of the Hall’s signature heritage features.

# 5. "The Three Treasures" and Traditions

University Hall lore speaks of “Three Treasures” (drawn from alumni accounts and hall tradition):

1. The David’s Deer stone statue (sometimes described as a chimera blending lion and deer): standing at the castle entrance, it serves as a symbol for the hall crest and community spirit.
2. The copper spiral staircase: located in the south tower, a rarity in Hong Kong and regarded by residents as University Hall’s very own treasure.
3. “Sam So”, the hall cook: her full name is Yuen So-mui. She began working as the hall cook right from University Hall’s opening. Over several decades, she became a maternal figure to generation after generation of residents. Even after retiring in 1998, she continued to return to the hall from time to time to encourage the newest cohort of Castlers.

In addition, residents of University Hall are universally known as “Castlers”. The hall ethos emphasises brotherhood and self-governance; there is a long tradition of fielding teams for inter-college sports competitions, as well as participating in drama and cultural activities.

# “Hall Blood”: A Cook’s Ritual Crossing Three Generations

University Hall’s most distinctive intangible tradition revolves around Sam So. According to secondary campus culture sources^※, a hall legend holds that every Castler will taste a serving of “Hall Blood,” specially prepared by Sam So, on three occasions in life: upon first becoming a resident; upon graduation and leaving the hall; and upon their wedding day in the future. The meaning of “Hall Blood” shifts with each life stage, symbolising the different moods and blessings a resident experiences over a lifetime; it is Sam So’s personal benediction for every cohort. In 2009, HKU awarded Sam So an honorary fellowship (or equivalent honour), recognising her decades-long contribution to the University Hall community. Such recognition is uncommon for non-academic and non-teaching staff of the University, and this official recognition lends credence to the idea that the “Three Treasures” lore is not purely a campus urban legend but enjoys verifiable institutional endorsement.

# 6. Declared Monument Status

According to the Antiquities and Monuments Office^※, University Hall (together with its historic building fabric) has been formally gazetted as a declared monument in Hong Kong. It is one of the few buildings on the HKU campus to enjoy this level of heritage protection. This status means that any future repair or alteration work on University Hall must observe stricter conservation requirements. Its Tudor/Gothic Revival façade, the copper spiral staircase, and other architectural elements are legally safeguarded and cannot be casually demolished or modified. This is one of the institutional reasons why University Hall, despite having the fewest places of any HKU hall, has never been torn down and redeveloped—unlike halls such as Lady Ho Tung Hall, which underwent reconstruction.

# 7. Administration and Nature

Accommodation applications for University Hall are coordinated centrally by the Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS), but day-to-day management rests primarily with the Hall Committee. University Hall has the fewest bed spaces of any current HKU residential hall, making selection relatively competitive. Its dual identity as both a declared monument and the smallest-scale hall places it in a special position within the HKU accommodation system: it cannot continuously expand its capacity like a large modern hall or residential college, nor can it be casually refurbished like an ordinary building. Its management strategy focuses, by necessity, on “sustaining a high-concentration community culture within a constrained space.” This is the very soil in which unofficial traditions like the “Three Treasures” and “Hall Blood” have flourished for decades without fading. In contrast to modern residential colleges like the Jockey Club Student Village, which accommodate hundreds or even thousands of residents, University Hall’s operational model—excelling through smallness—arguably represents an alternative path within the HKU accommodation system, running parallel to the dominant trend of expansion: limited in scale, but with a depth of community cohesion and historical texture potentially far exceeding its larger peers.