page_title: University Hall (University of Hong Kong)
section_title: Douglas Castle under the French Mission (1894-1954)
hierarchical_section_title: University Hall (University of Hong Kong) / History / Douglas Castle under the French Mission (1894-1954)
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 大學堂外牆為香港法定古跡
context_page_description: University Hall, or UHall, is a historical residential hall for males at the University of Hong Kong. University Hall is one of the oldest residential halls under the university's hall system and houses about 110 students. Its hall colours are green, black and silver. It is located at 144 Pok Fu Lam Road, close to the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir within the Pok Fu Lam Country Park on the western side of Hong Kong Island.
  The building itself dates back to 1861 when a wealthy Scottish trader named Douglas Lapraik built the Douglas Castle as the place of his residence. University Hall was formally established in 1954 after the University of Hong Kong bought the heritage building from the French Mission in Hong Kong, and the castle was officially named as the University Hall and opened as a male residential hall in 1956.
context_section_description: In 1894, Hong Kong Hong Kong was declared to be an infected port of the bubonic plague. The killing spree of the plague claimed thousands of lives and forced about half of the population hastily leave Hong Kong. John Douglas Steward, who was managing the castle after his father John Steward Lapraik died in 1893, had no option, but to sell the castle to the French Mission, who were some of the few who remained in Hong Kong. The building soon turned into a monastery and got renamed, Nazareth. After the plagues were sat out, Nazareth went through a major renovation under the leadership of Father Monnier, who enlarged the building with a printing house that operated one of the busiest bible printing and translation facilities of the early 20th century in Asia.
  During World War I, Nazareth was used as the training base of Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers).
  During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Douglas Castle was confiscated by the Japanese army and used as the headquarters of kempeitai and residence for workers of the Japanese dock in Aberdeen. After Second World War came to an end in 1945 the castle was returned to the French Mission and the printing press resumed operations in 1948.
  However, with the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it became difficult for overseas missionaries to penetrate the mainland. By the early 1950s, most of the foreign missionaries were forced to leave their stations in Mainland China. Hong Kong as a base for missionary work into the greater China area became increasingly unfeasible. In the coming years, Nazareth closed down. The government, which considered the castle for numerous purposes, finally decided to grant the building to the University of Hong Kong. On 4 December 1954 the building got transferred from the French Mission to the university at a price of HK$1,600,000.
caption: The exterior of University Hall
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