Bethanie

Bethanie, a former French Mission sanatorium built in Pokfulam in 1875, was restored in 2003 and has become the campus of the School of Film and Television, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2006. It is a H-shaped structure with a chapel built in neo-Gothic style. The floor tiles on the ground floor corridor and in the chapel are unique. The balcony on the 1st floor is the vantage point for viewing the chapel's exterior with its flying buttresses and overlooking the views towards the Peak and across the Lamma Channel to the outlying islands. The Sir YK Pao Studio on the 2nd floor is reinstated with a glazed roof to let in sunlight. Also on the 2nd floor is the fully modernized Jackie Chan Suite equipped with a 70-seater screening room, an audio visual room and a production design room. The wine cellar in the basement is converted into a museum recording the history of Bethanie and the French Mission's activities throughout Asia over the past 3 centuries. The Wellcome Theatre, adjacent to the Bethanie, is originally 2 octagonal cowsheds built by the Dairy Farm Company found in 1886. The cowsheds now house a foyer cum exhibition area and a performing space. There are extensive open space and gardens at the Bethanie site, with a 100-year-old banyan tree facing the theatre entrance. Bethanie was declared a monument in 2013.