The 150th anniversay of St John's Anglican Cathedral took place on 11 March 1997. One of Hong Kong's oldest buildings, it once stood stoically atop a grassy slope overlooking the military parade ground on the only freehold land granted in Hong Kong. The cathedral survived wartime desecration having been turned into a social club during the Occupation. Today the cathedral nestles among the glass canyons of Central, offering an oasis of spiritual calm beneath the shade of banyans and palms.