[1] A path was cut in December 1859 from what is now Robinson Road to the top of Victoria Peak, and the sanatorium was opened in the spring of 1862.
However, the patients, like those in the rest of Hong Kong that year, did not improve and the military abandoned the site.
James Russell, Chief Justice of the Hong Kong supreme court, applied for a lease on the property in 1875, but it was not granted.
[8] In 1892, Governor Robinson (1891–1898) designated the Director of Public Works, Francis Cooper, to restore the lodge.
Governor Sir Francis Henry May and Lady May used it extensively and there are several photos of their family showing everyday life at Mountain Lodge 1910–1920.
[12] In 1938, it was proposed that both Government House and Mountain Lodge be abandoned, and a single home built at Magazine Gap.
During the Peak improvement project in January 2007, pieces of wall, roof tiles and several in situ granite steps beneath the ground were found on the former Mountain Lodge site during pre-construction checks.
[15][16][17] In 1969, the former Urban Council redeveloped the site as a park[18] (the current Victoria Peak Garden) with public facilities including a new pavilion, lighting and drainage systems, a car park, a kiosk and a public toilet at the west of the pavilion.
In 1979, a pair of stone lions, donated by businessman Mr. Chau Yau, was located at the northern entrance of the pavilion.