Stop 1: Main Building
- The Main Building is four-storey high, consisting of the east wing and west wing, with school hall at the centre. The walls are constructed with granite and red bricks, and its pitched roof is covered with traditional Chinese pan-and-roll tiles.
- The west wing and central section of the Main Building were completed earlier, while the east wing was a later addition. The architectural styles of the two wings are different.
- Inside the Main Building, there are deep verandahs, semi-circular arches, and urn-shaped balustrades.
- The architectural layout of the Main Building, which is similar to a traditional Chinese courtyard house, is distinctive.
Stop 2: School’s Main Entrance
- A pair of columns at the entrance porch, featuring a robust shaft and undecorated capital, is of Doric order which is commonly known as "male column". This column order was one of the most popular kinds during the ancient Greek period. Other architectural features at the Main Entrance include the segmental-arched pediment, hardwood doors, old bronze door handles, and two sculptures in the form of "Flame of Knowledge" above the Main Entrance.
- On both sides of the Main Entrance, two stone plaques commemorate the foundation of the Main Building in 1922 (note: the original stone plaques were destroyed during the Japanese Occupation, and these replicas were created in the 1950s when the campus reopened) and the official opening of the Main Building in 1924.
Stop 3: Kwok Siu Lau Hall
- Kwok Siu Lau Hall is located in the centre of the Main Building. Inside the Hall, one can see the pilasters of Ionic order, a classical column order originated from ancient Greece. These columns are characterised by their slender and elegant shafts, pairs of volutes on the capital, and the square bases. They are also known as "female column".
- The decorative mouldings and vaulted ceiling inside the hall showcase the essence of the classical architecture.
- Kwok Siu Lau was an early Chinese political and business elite in Hong Kong. The hall was named after him due to his donations to the construction of the Main Building and the furnishings of the hall.
Stop 4: South Entrance (School’s Park Road Entrance)
- At the colonnade above the South Entrance on Park Road, one can see another classical order, Tuscan order, characterised by their simple and unadorned designs. The colonnade and its structural framework of classical style present a symmetrical architectural layout.
Stop 5: Xiao Hong Memorial Plaque
- This commemorative plaque describes the connection between the renowned Chinese women writer Xiao Hong (1911–1942) and the school. Xiao Hong became famous for her novel “The Field of Life and Death”. After moving to Hong Kong, she wrote a long novel “Tales of Hulan River”. In 1941, she was seriously ill and was admitted to St. Stephen's Girls' College, which was being used as a temporary hospital at the time, where she passed away. Her husband buried part of her ashes beneath a large tree on the campus, but the exact location is untraceable.
Stop 6: Conference and Archives Room
- Before 1967, this space was the living room of the school staff who resided in the dormitory on campus. After the closure of the dormitory in 1967, the space was converted into a classroom and was later repurposed as the Conference and Archives Room in 1996.
- The Conference and Archives Room are now separated into two areas by a timber door. The Conference Room is mainly used for important meetings, and the Archives Room is for displaying school artefacts.
Stop 7: Key Exhibit 1 of the Archives Room – Prayer Desk with Kneeler
- The Prayer Desk with Kneeler, the oldest artefact in the Archives Room, was used by Joseph Charles Hoare, the Bishop of the Diocese of Victoria, who was the advocate of the founding of the school at the time. Bishop Hoare died in an accident in 1906, and his daughter donated the Prayer Desk to the school.
Stop 8: Key Exhibit 2 of the Archives Room – Wardrobe, Inventory Label (Inventory Records), and Wooden Chair
- During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese forces seized the campus and converted the College into “Toa Gakuin”, where teachers and civil servants were trained. Japanese staff members lived on the top floor of the Main Building, bringing with them their own furniture.
- The wardrobe of the time is on display in the Archives Room, with an inventory label on the back of the door indicating that the College was under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office during the Japanese Occupation and an inventory inspection was conducted in May 1944 (Showa 19th Year) (note: The military uniform inside the wardrobe is replica.)
- This wooden chair, engraved with the Chrysanthemum Crest which is believed to be related to the Japanese imperial family, was the furniture brought by the Japanese.
Stop 9: Key Exhibit 3 of the Archives Room – Wooden Plaque and Assembly Hall Chairs
- This Wooden Plaque, inscribed with the school's name, was hang above the garden gate in the past.
- These three hardwood chairs, believed to have been made in the 1950s, were previously placed on the stage of Kwok Siu Lau Hall for guests officiating the school's graduation ceremonies.
Stop 10: Spiral Staircase
- This spiral staircase connected the dormitories upstairs to the living room of the school staff resided on the campus (now the Conference and Archives Room) in the past.
St. Stephen’s Girls' College - Attraction Highlights