The Former North Kowloon Magistracy was constructed in 1960 and is a representative example of civic buildings of the period. It has social and historical values because it witnesses the judicial development of Hong Kong in the post-war period. The Judiciary closed the court in January 2005 and vacated the building. In 2009, the building was revitalised into the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Hong Kong by the SCAD Foundation (Hong Kong) Limited under Batch I of the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme (R-Scheme) launched by the Development Bureau. The college commenced operation in September 2010 for the provision of non-local higher education courses in art and design.
The revitalisation project received an “Honourable Mention” in the 2011 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation. The current tenancy of SCAD would expire in July 2020. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will take over the historic building upon the expiry of the tenancy, and in accordance with the terms of the lease the historic building will be properly returned.
The seven-storey historic building comprises of a series of tall narrow windows symmetrically designed on the main elevation dominated the front façade. It also features a double canopied central projecting bay and a grand entrance double staircase facing Tai Po Road.
The historic building was constructed in Stripped Classical style. It was a reinforced concrete structure with granite ashlar blocks forming the base walls on lower ground floor, and a central light well from the third to the fifth floors originally designed to draw natural light to the central staircase on the second floor. The building displays elegant architectural features such as moulded architraves, marble wall finishes and a central staircase at the main lobby with ornamental ironwork balustrades featuring fleur-de-lis motifs.