Iconic State Courts building in Havelock Square
Family Justice Courts to move to iconic octagonal building in Havelock by November
The Family Justice Courts (FJC) will be moving its operations to new premises – the former State Courts’ building in Havelock Square – by the end of November. The iconic octagonal building, which was gazetted as a conserved building in 2013, heard its last case in 2019, and was refurbished thereafter in preparation for the FJC to take over. It is more than three times the size of the premises currently occupied by the FJC, a building at 3 Havelock Square and a unit at the MND Complex in Maxwell Road.
The FJC said on Oct 21 that the move will allow it to meet its caseload. With the move, the number of courtrooms will increase from 12 to 25 and the number of hearing rooms from 23 to 52. On Oct 21, the FJC, which comprises the Family Division of the High Court, the Family Courts and the Youth Courts, celebrated its 10th anniversary at its new premises.
At the event, it also launched its model for therapeutic justice, which involves a process led by a judge in which parties and their lawyers, along with other professionals, work together to find timely and enduring solutions to family disputes within the framework of the law. An FJC spokesperson told The Straits Times that the increase in space at the new premises will allow the courts to provide specialised facilities that address the needs of their users. They include child-friendly interview rooms, quiet rooms for distressed individuals, and vulnerable witness rooms to allow for remote testimony in hearings.
Singapore’s Pan Pacific Orchard hotel crowned world’s best new skyscraper
The 343-room Pan Pacific Orchard was designed by Singapore-based Woha Architect
The 23-storey Pan Pacific Orchard hotel in Singapore’s iconic shopping district has been recognised as the world’s best new skyscraper. The award was part of a slew dished out by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), a non-profit organisation founded in the United States. It is recognised as the leading authority on skyscrapers globally.
The 140m-high Pan Pacific Orchard, which opened its doors in June 2023, also won three other awards, including the best tall building between 100m and 199m high. The awards were announced at a conference in London and Paris from Sept 23 to 27. The council’s chief executive Javier Quintana de Una said the hotel “represents the best of responsible vertical urbanism today”.
Vertical urbanism refers to an approach that emphasises the vertical development of urban spaces such as skyscrapers and multi-level structures that maximise land use, according to education platform Fiveable. “By holistically incorporating greenery into its design, Pan Pacific Orchard honours Singapore’s heritage while pushing the envelope of sustainable urban development in a dense, urban setting,” the council said. It also commended the hotel’s commitment to minimising energy consumption, water usage and waste. For instance, solar panels are used to power the common areas, rainwater is harvested for irrigation, and food waste is processed via an on-site biodigester. Designed by Singapore-based Woha Architects, the 343-room hotel’s design brings the island’s four environments – forest, beach, garden and cloud – into one dramatic building.
Gaia, Asia's largest wooden building launched 17 May 2023
NTU Singapore, has officially launched its eighth zero energy building on Wednesday (17 May 2023), adding to its list of green developments as part of the university’s commitment to sustainability.
Named Gaia after the Greek goddess of Earth, the 6-storey development is the largest wooden building in Asia, and is a space for learning, research and innovation, where NTU students, faculty and staff can meet and connect to uncover new opportunities for collaboration and discovery.
Gaia is the eighth building project (Project’s architect, Toyo Ito) on the NTU campus that has received the Green Mark Platinum (Zero Energy) – the highest award issued by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore to recognise buildings that consume as much energy as they produce. Presently, there are 16 certified zero energy buildings in the country, of which half are located on NTU grounds. This makes NTU the greenest campus in Singapore.
Singtel Comcentre
Comcentre is a 32-storey, 140 m (460 ft) skyscraper in the Central Region of Singapore. It was completed in 1981 and is tied with One Raffles Quay South Tower and Pan Pacific Singapore as the 82nd-tallest building in the city-state. The building is the corporate headquarters of Singtel. A complex of antennae and satellite dishes were added after construction.
On 23 February 2022, Singtel announced an over S$2 billion plan to redevelop Comcentre from 2024 into a 110,000 sq m building equipped with the latest digital technologies and sustainable features, as well as being well integrated into the surroundings with an underground connection to Somerset MRT station. The new Comcentre will be developed in a joint venture with another developer that will be selected in May, although two were shortlisted earlier. Singtel will divest its stake to the joint venture company with a majority stake, although it will take up 30 per cent of the space as the anchor tenant. The new Comcentre will also be equipped with hybrid working spaces for other tenants. It will be completed by 2028, with Singtel working in other offices in the meantime.
Following deliberations, on 1 June the same year, Singtel chose Lendlease as the developer of the new complex, taking part in a 51-49 joint venture company. The development will be designed by well known architects including Kohn Pedersen Fox, and cost S$3 billion. The building's design was also unveiled the same day, comprising two 20-storey buildings with a wide atrium and several dining and retail options, including Singtel's new flagship store. Also included are an elevated rooftop park with a 300-person auditorium, running and walking tracks and an integrated wellness hub.
Capitol Theatre
Capitol Theatre, briefly Kyo-Ei Gekijo, is a historic cinema and theatre located in Singapore. It was adjoined to four-storey building known as the Capitol Building. The Capitol Theatre was considered one of Singapore's finest theatres in the 1930s during that time.
In 1929, Mirza Mohamed Ali Namazie, a Persian businessman of the Namazie family, commissioned the theatre to be built in Singapore, with S. A. H. Shirazee, an Indian-Muslim merchant and community leader, and the South African brothers Joe and Julius Fisher from First National Pictures, joined in to form Capitol Theatres Ltd as its operator. Namazie would serve as the theatre company's chairman with Shirazee as director, Joe Fisher as managing director and his brother Julius Fisher as the publicity manager. Architecture and equipments
Joe Fisher travelled overseas to acquire the materials for the theatre's furnishings, decorations and design. The Capitol Theatre was designed neoclassical architecture by British architects Keys and Dowdeswell, with its general plan, seating arrangements and lighting inspired from the Roxy Theatre in New York, United States. Builders Messrs Brossard and Mopin began construction of the foundation around July 1929. Messrs Sherwin-Williams Paint Co. in collaboration with local partner Messrs Lohmann and Co., designed the theatre's walls' and ceilings' detailing. Although installed with ventilation system, the theatre's roof was able to slide open which leave a 40-foot aperture for more ventilation.
The first layout of the theatre could accommodate at least 1,600 people, with 1,100 seated on the ground floor. Another 500 seats were available at the circle that could be accessed via lifts or staircases. The seats were a few inches wider than normal British cinema seats, and the upholstery was supplied by a New York company. The theatre had a large projection room located below the balcony and ran the length of the building instead of being traditionally sited in the rear. It housed the latest Simplex projector installed with fireproof protection shutters. The theatre's acoustics and soundproofing were said to be exceptional at that time. Special expensive sound installations costing at least 40,000 Straits dollars were imported from Western Electric Company. The theatre's stage was also designed for stage productions, with changing rooms and organ chambers built into the theatre. It was also the first to equip multihued lighting system using concealed lamps with a dimmer function, which was never used in other existing theatres in Singapore at that time. Besides having the floodlit main entrance at the junction of Stamford Road and North Bridge Road, there are also two side entrances from Stamford Road and North Bridge Road, with a parking lot to accommodate at least 200 cars. There were several food outlets at the theatre. The main café on the first floor had a dance floor where cabaret was held at the selected nights, and adjoining the café was a restaurant known as the Capitol Restaurant. A café lounge was located at the circle. A special cooling room for making French pastries was built in the kitchen on the ground floor. Its adjoined building known as Namazie Mansions, which was named after the Chairman Namazie, was completed in the early 1930.
Cathay Building
The Cathay Building (simplified Chinese: 国 泰 大 厦; traditional Chinese: 國 泰 大 廈; Malay: Bangunan Cathay) was opened in 1939 by Dato Loke Wan Tho as the headquarters for the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation.
Located at 2 Handy Road in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore, the building was most known for its air-conditioned theatre known as the Cathay Cinema, then a technological marvel and the first to be built in Singapore. Cathay Building was the first skyscraper in Singapore and tallest building in Southeast Asia at that time. The supposed 16 storey (11 storey upon completion) Cathay Building was designed by British architect Frank W Brewer. The Cathay Building consisted of the Cathay Cinema, a restaurant and the dance hall on the ground floor, as well as a roof garden above the cinema and a residential storey block with a penthouse.
The first part of the Cathay Building was opened on 3 October 1939 with the 1,300-seat Cathay Cinema, the dance hall and the Cathay Restaurant. On 1 July 1940, the 11 storey residential block was opened for occupancy, with the owners Mrs Loke Wan and Loke Wan Tho occupied the eleventh floor. The building was the first and tallest skyscraper in Singapore and in Southeast Asia, at a height of 83.5 metres from the Dhoby Ghaut entrance to the top of the building's water tower. Its theatre was the island's first air-conditioned cinema and public building, and where one could sit in an arm chair to watch a film; a rare amenity during that time. The building was also used as a landmark for final landing approach at Singapore's first purpose-built civilian airport, Kallang Airport.
CHIJMES
CHIJMES (pronounced "chimes", acronym definition: Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Middle Education School) is a historic building complex in Singapore, which began life as a Catholic convent known as the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ). The complex is located at Victoria Street in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district.
The complex was used as a Catholic convent since 1852, with an acquired Caldwell House which was constructed in 1840–1841, an acquired Convent Orphanage house in 1855, the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Chapel in 1904 and an acquired hotel complex for the girls' school in 1933. The Caldwell House, currently a wedding venue, and the Gothic-style chapel, renamed as CHIJMES Hall, currently a function hall and also a wedding venue, have both been gazetted as national monuments. The complex has been restored in 1996 for commercial purposes as a dining, shopping and entertainment centre with ethnic restaurants, shops and a function hall, providing a backdrop for musicals, recitals, theatrical performances and weddings. The CHIJMES Hall, designed by Father Charles Benedict Nain as a chapel, was completed in 1904. After Father Jean-Marie Beurel consecrated the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd on 6 June 1847, he had an ambition to open a school for boys to be managed by the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
In 1848, Father Beurel asked the Straits Settlements government for land to build a school, but was refused. He left Singapore on 28 October 1850 for France. While he was in France, Father Beurel approached the Reverend Mother Saint François de Sales de Faudoas, the 14th Superior General of the Infant Jesus Sisters, to enlist some sisters in starting a school for girls. He returned to Singapore in 1852 with some Brothers from the Brothers of the Christian Schools and with them he later founded Saint Joseph's Institution at the former chapel in May 1852. In July 1852, he asked the Straits Settlements Government once again for land next to the church for a charitable institution for girls, he was told that there was already sufficient land given to the church. Later in August 1852, Father Jean-Marie Beurel purchased the house at the corner of Victoria Street from H.C. Caldwell for the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus for 4,000 francs, the house was since known as the Caldwell House. In October 1852, the four Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus, Reverend Mother Mathilde Raclot, Mother Appollinaire, Mother Gaetan Gervais and Sister Gregory Connolly arrived in Penang after having travelled overland from their native country in caravans. Mother Mathilde Raclot, leader of this group, was to become a key personality in the early history of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus on Victoria Street. On 2 February 1854, the Sisters sailed to Singapore from Penang on a mission to build a school for girls. On 5 February 1854, they reached the island's shores and took up residence at the Caldwell House.
Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Singapore, built in 1847. It is located in the Museum Planning Area within the Civic District.
Bounded by the parallel Queen and Victoria Streets, and Bras Basah Road, the cathedral sits within shaded grounds. Much of its architecture is reminiscent of two famous London churches namely St Paul's, Covent Garden and St Martin-in-the-Fields. The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore and the seat of its archbishop. It is the final resting place of Bishop Edouard Gasnier, the first bishop of the revived Diocese of Malacca and aptly houses the relics of Saint Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, to whom the owes its name.
In 1832, construction began on the first permanent Roman Catholic house of worship in Singapore. Financed through public subscriptions, the chapel, completed by 1833, was a small wood and attap structure measuring 60 feet long by 30 feet wide that had cost about 700 Spanish dollars to build. The chapel, with neither tower nor spire, was on the site of the former Saint Joseph's Institution buildings, now occupied by the Singapore Art Museum, and allotted by the Resident Councillor, George Bonham to Father Jean-Baptiste Boucho, a French missionary who had come from Penang. It was located in European Town, an area marked out in Sir Stamford Raffles' 1822 town plan as a residential area for Europeans, Eurasians and wealthy Asians.
Central Fire Station, Singapore
The Central Fire Station (Chinese: 中央消防局; Malay: Balai Bomba Pusat) is the oldest existing fire station in Singapore and is located at Hill Street in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area. It is opposite Funan mall. The building currently houses the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery, the official museum of the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The fire station is gazetted as a national monument of Singapore in 1996.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Singapore had only small, makeshift fire stations around town for volunteer firefighters to operate out of. In 1905, Montague William Pett came up with the idea of having a Central Fire Station to replace the small, makeshift fire stations. The Central Fire Station was built on Hill Street in 1908 at the cost of $64,000. The fire station had a three-storey main building and garages for motorised fire engines. It also had dormitories for about 68 firemen, areas for repairs, a training yard and a lookout tower. Over the next 30 years, extensions were built to accommodate the growing fire fighting force.
In 1996, the Central Fire Station was gazetted as a national monument of Singapore.
In 1998, the fire station underwent major renovation to reconstruct internally and also cosmetic changes. Old building blocks were demolished to install modern facilities, such as new dormitories and parking bays for fire trucks. The original 32-m tower block was restored instead of being demolished. A Civil Defence Heritage Gallery was also constructed to showcase the history of firefighting in Singapore and trace the developments of civil defence in Singapore from the 19th century till the present day. The total costs of the renovation is estimated at $8.6m. The fire station remained operational during the reconstruction period which is completed by end-2001.
Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator
The Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, referred to locally as the Armenian Church, is the oldest Christian church in Singapore, located at Hill Street in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area. The church was completed in 1835 and consecrated the next year. Originally a parish of the Armenian Apostolic Church, an Oriental Orthodox denomination, the last Armenian parish priest left in the late 1930s as Armenian population in Singapore dwindled. It was designated as a national monument in 1973. Armenian and Oriental Orthodox services are now regularly held at the church.
The church was commissioned by the first twelve Armenian families that settled in Singapore. It was designed by George Drumgoole Coleman, the architect of many of Singapore's early buildings who also became the first Superintendent of Public Works. The church is dedicated to St Gregory the Illuminator, the first Patriarch of the Armenian Church. The Armenians were among the earliest merchants and traders to arrive in Singapore after Sir Stamford Raffles established it as a trading port in 1819. The community already held religious services in Singapore by 1821, and the first priest, the Reverend Krikor Hovhannes (Gregory John), arrived in July 1827. A temporary chapel was set up at the back of John Little & Company at Commercial Square (today's Raffles Place). The community started to raise funds for the construction of a new church in 1827. Over half the construction cost of 5,058.30 Spanish dollars was donated by the Armenian community in Singapore, with the rest coming from Armenians in Java and India, and a small portion from European and Chinese merchants in Singapore. The Armenian community was very small – the 1824 census counted only 16 members, and 34 in 1836 when the church opened – its contribution to the Armenian Church was therefore considerable in proportion, an indication of the prosperity and religious devotion of the Armenians.
A request for land to build the church was made by the Armenian community in 1833, and the government granted the land at the foot of Fort Canning in 1834. The foundation stone was laid on 1 January 1835 by the Supreme, Archimandrite Reverend Thomas Gregorian, who also opened and consecrated the new church on Easter Sunday in 1836. He was assisted by Reverend Khachig Hovhannes, the priest for the local community. It is the oldest Christian church built in Singapore. The church has undergone a few modifications since it was first built. A bell turret designed by Coleman was deemed structurally unsound, and it was replaced first by a square tower in 1847, then again replaced in 1853 with the spire as it appears today, which was designed by George Maddock. In 1909, the church became the first building in Singapore with electricity.
Church of St Teresa
The Church of St. Teresa is a Roman Catholic church in Singapore. The church was established in 1929 on the eastern slope of Bukit Purmei in Kampong Bahru, making it Singapore's first rural church. It was gazetted by the National Heritage Board as a National monument on 11 November 2009.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the only church that served the Chinese Catholic community in Singapore was the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. Even so, the church was continuously packed on Sundays, feast days and other special occasions, and it was largely a Teochew-speaking congregation. In 1910, Bishop Emile Barillon wrote back to the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP), mentioning that the Church in Singapore "foresees that a third Chinese parish would become necessary for the Catholics originating from Fukien who have multiplied more and more.” During that time, there were a few hundred Hokkien-speaking Christians. Conversions within this dialect group were few as they had no church of their own, and as such there was a need to build a church catered to the Hokkien community. In 1923, Father Emile Joseph Mariette, who was then the parish priest of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, suggested to the MEP to build this new church, and thus they began the search for a suitable site. On 21 November 1925, the Church acquired 2.1 acres of land at Bukit Purmei, which at that time was a large tract of undeveloped and dismal marshland occupied by Malay Squatters and Catholic families. During that period, this plot of land was near Outram General Hospital as well as Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, which was still undergoing construction then. The cost of the land amounted to $26,000, and the building fund took about a quarter of a million dollars, all of which was contributed by the MEP and prominent Chinese Catholics.
The building was based on the sketches of Father Jean Marie Ouillon, and his design was heavily inspired by the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmarte, which was also built on a hill. The foundation stone was laid on Easter Monday, 18 April 1927, by Pierre Louis Perrichon, Bishop of Corona and Coadjutor to the Bishop of Malacca. During the construction, Father Mariette was inspecting the construction prorgress on site when a plank fell from the top of the steeple and hit him on his head. He was rushed to Outram General Hospital, but passed away soon after. Up till this day, a marble plaque stands dedicated to him near where the accident took place. Father Stephen Lee was then tasked to supervise the rest of the building project, and subsequently became the parish priest in 1930.
City Hall, Singapore
The City Hall in Singapore is a national monument gazetted on 14 February 1992. It can be found in front of the historical Padang and adjacent to the Supreme Court of Singapore, it was designed and built by the architects of the Singapore Municipal Commission, A. Gordans and F. D. Meadows from 1926 to 1929. A flight of stairs takes visitors from the Corinthian colonnade to the main building. The building was constructed to replace several houses designed by architect G.D. Coleman. It was first known as Municipal Building until 1951 when Singapore was granted city status by King George VI.
The Municipal Building was planned and designed by the municipal architect S. D. Meadows, and then by Alexander Gordon, who took over the position in 1925. The London construction firm Perry and Co. (Overseas) Ltd. began in 1926 and was completed in 1929. By April the municipality moved into its new home. The Governor Hugh Clifford then officially opened the new Municipal Building on 23 July 1929. During World War II, when the Japanese occupied Singapore, they managed civic issues from the Municipal Building. Political affairs were already being conducted in the building. In 1943, the leader of the Indian National Army, Subhas Chandra Bose, rallied for Japanese support to help India be independent of British rule at the Municipal Building. British prisoners-of-war were rounded up in front of the building to march to POW camps such as Changi Prison and Selarang. On 12 September 1945, the Japanese Japanese Itagaki surrendered to Lord Mountbatten on the steps of the building to end World War II in Singapore. In 1951, it was renamed to its present name City Hall to mark Singapore as a city, after being granted city status.
In 1959, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declared self-governance at City Hall. It was also the first time that the people of Singapore heard the new national anthem and saw their national flag. Lee and his eight cabinet ministers were then sworn into political office in the chamber of City Hall before the first Yang di-Pertuan Negara, Yusof bin Ishak, whose oath was taken at the City Hall as well. Lee Kuan Yew read out the Malaysia Proclamation at the City Hall in 1963 and declared that Singapore was no longer under British rule. The people celebrated the first Malaysia Day at the Padang which was outside the City Hall. When Singapore was no longer a part of Malaysia, the first National Day Parade was held there in 1966. The steps of the City Hall are also used as a VIP seating area when National Day Parades were held there.
Civilian War Memorial
The Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation, usually called the Civilian War Memorial (Chinese: 日 本 占 领 时 期 死 难 人 民 纪 念 碑; Malay: Tugu Peringatan Bagi Mangsa Awam Pemerintahan Jepun; Tamil: ஜப்பானியர் ஆதிக்க காலத்தில் உயிர் துறந்த பொதுமக்களுக்கன நினைவுச் சின்னம்), is a war memorial and heritage landmark in Singapore next to Esplanade MRT station. It was built in memory of the civilians killed during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II. The Civilian War Memorial sits on serene parkland in the midst of busy city traffic near Singapore's Padang and City Hall. Located within the War Memorial Park at Beach Road within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district, it is usually easy to spot in most backdrops encompassing the CBD landscape. It was gazetted as the 65th national memorial on 15 August 2013.
During the Japanese Empire's occupation of Singapore during the Pacific War (1942–1945), thousands of ethnic Chinese were killed in the Sook Ching massacre. In an effort to remove anti-Japanese elements in Singapore, Chinese men between the ages of 18 and 50 were to report to the Kempeitai, the Imperial Japanese Army military police. The death toll was reported to be 6,000 by the Japanese, but official estimates range between 25,000 and 50,000. In February 1962, remains belonging to civilian victims of the Japanese occupation were unearthed in areas like Siglap, Changi and Bukit Timah. The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCC) undertook the responsibility of gathering the remains and creating a memorial.
On 13 March 1963, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew set aside a plot of land at Beach Road for the building of a memorial dedicated to the civilians killed in World War II. The SCCC set up a fund committee that was later enlarged to include all ethnic groups due to good response from the community. With the support of the Government and contributions from the public, construction of the memorial was able to start.
Esplanade Park Memorials
The ornate Tan Kim Seng Fountain 1882 was commissioned by the Municipal Council to commemorate the philanthropist’s contributions to Singapore. It was first unveiled on 19 May 1882 at Fullerton Square by Sir Thomas Scott, President of the Municipality
The Cenotaph completed in 1922, is a war memorial that commemorates the military personnel who fought and sacrificed their lives in both World Wars
Lim Bo Seng Memorial (construction: 1953 - 1954) is the only commemorative structure in Singapore that honours the sacrifice of an individual during the Second World War. Lim Bo Seng (林谋盛) was born in Nan’an in Fujian Province
Prior to the first land reclamation in 1843, the original shoreline of Singapore ran across the present Padang. Esplanade Park, which was created during the 1922 reclamation project, sits entirely on new land today, and has since been transformed into a commemorative park.
A stretch of promenade along the seafront was named Queen Elizabeth Walk in 1953, in celebration of the monarch’s coronation and ascent to the English throne. It was officially opened by Lady Yuen-Peng McNeice on 30 October that same year.
At Esplanade Park are Tan Kim Seng Fountain, the Cenotaph, and Lim Bo Seng Memorial. These three memorials were gazetted collectively as a National Monument.
Empress Place Building
During the colonial era, the Empress Place Building was known simply as Government Offices. The first civic buildings were planned here in Sir Stamford Raffles' day. Originally intended to be a courthouse, the Empress Place Building instead became offices for the government departments located in the adjacent Maxwell's House (later the old Parliament House). Maxwell's House, designed by George Drumgoole Coleman, was a two-storey house built for a merchant, John Argyle Maxwell, in 1827. However, it was never occupied by him and it became a courthouse and lands office. Subsequently, it was converted to Government Offices and additions were made in 1839 and 1847.
Constructed in four phases from 1864 to 1920, Government Offices was built to provide much needed space for the growing colonial administration. The original section of the building was designed by colonial engineer J.F.A. McNair and built by convict labour between June 1864 and December 1867. This original section now forms the part of the building nearest to the old Parliament House. Yet another courthouse was built in 1865; this is now the core of the Government Offices. In 1873–1875, the old courthouse was extended towards the river and this is where the Supreme Court of the Colony held its sessions from 1875 until 1939 when the first Supreme Court was built. Maxwell's original house became the Assembly House in 1954 after extensive renovations and reconstruction. The decision to build a new Town Hall was made in 1854; the building was completed in 1862.
Fullerton Hotel Singapore
The Fullerton Hotel Singapore is a five-star luxury hotel located near the mouth of the Singapore River, in the Downtown Core of the Central Area, Singapore. It was originally known as the Fullerton Building, and also as the General Post Office Building. The address is 1 Fullerton Square. The Fullerton Building was named after Robert Fullerton, the first Governor of the Straits Settlements (1826–1829). Commissioned in 1924 as part of the British colony's centennial celebrations, the building was designed as an office building by Major P.H. Keys of Keys & Dowdeswell, a Shanghai firm of architects, which won the project through an architectural design competition. The architectural firm also designed the Capitol Theatre, its adjoined Capitol Building and the Singapore General Hospital.[9] In 2015, it is gazetted as a national monument of Singapore.
The northern end of the building covers the site of Fort Fullerton, a fort built in 1829 to defend the settlement against any naval attacks. The fort consisted of an Artillery Barrack, a house for the officers, barracks for soldiers and a 68-pounder gun guarding the entrance to the river which used to stand on the location known as Fullerton square. In 1843, the fort was extended after a sandstone monolith, the Singapore Stone, with an inscription possibly dating back to the 13th century was demolished. The Singapore stone was, unfortunately, destroyed by the British. A fragment of this monolith was salvaged and preserved in the collection of the National Museum at Stamford Road. However, there were several criticisms as well as apprehensions regarding the building of Fort Fullerton. Merchants thought that it was a waste to use the prime location of the city for military instead of trading purpose, which would have prevented Singapore from generating more revenue and boosting its trading business. They were also worried that they would be in the direct line of fire if there were any attacks on the fort because the offices along the Singapore River were situated in close proximity to the fort. The fort was also said to be incapable of deterring any potential attacks from the sea, and had very low efficacy. Following these criticisms, the fort was finally demolished in 1873. The fort gave way to the first General Post Office and the Exchange Building in 1874. Plans to erect Fullerton Building were drawn up in 1920. However, due to a lack of funds, construction only began in February 1924.[3][15] During the initial groundwork, excavations revealed the gun casements of the old Fort Fullerton. In fact, the Fullerton Building was built over reclaimed land. Built at a cost of $4.1 million and after delays of a few months, the building was completed in June 1928.
The Fullerton Building was opened on 27 June 1928 by the Governor, Sir Hugh Clifford, who suggested the building be named after Robert Fullerton. The building had five founding tenants: the General Post Office, The Exchange, Singapore Club (now Singapore Town Club), the Marine Department, and the Import and Export Department (later the Ministry of Trade and Industry). It also housed the Chamber of Commerce, and various government departments dealing with agriculture, fisheries and forestry. One of the rooms in the Fullerton Building was where the late Finance Minister, Dr Goh Keng Swee, wrote many of his budget speeches for Singapore. The building was designed to utilize natural ventilation, thus has four internal air-wells to cool the interiors.
Goodwood Park Hotel
The Goodwood Park Hotel (Chinese: 良木园酒店) is a heritage hotel in Singapore, situated in a 6-hectare landscaped garden on Scotts Road. It was first built as the club house for the Teutonic Club serving the expatriate German community in Singapore, and later converted into a hotel.
The hotel was the first in Singapore to have a swimming-pool on the premises, and an air-conditioned wine cellar. The Tower Block of the hotel has been gazetted as a national monument of Singapore. The Goodwood Park Hotel building was built in 1900 to the design of R. A. J. Bidwell, of Swan and Maclaren. Its architecture has an eclectic Victorian flavour, with its turrets and decorated façade. The Tower Block has elements of the Queen Anne Revival style, and the tower itself may have been influenced by those found on castles in Germany's Rhineland region. The building was constructed for the sum of St$20,000. The Teutonia Club was an exclusive enclave first established on 28 June 1856 for the expatriate German community in Singapore. The club was housed in a couple of different locations until it purchased a piece of land on Scotts Road in 1861 to build a club house. Additional plot of land adjacent to the site was later purchased to enlarge the compound and construct a new building for the club. Construction of the new clubhouse began in 1899. On 21 September 1900, the new clubhouse opened as the Deutsches Haus (German House) with a ball attended by about 500 guests, including James Alexander Swettenham, then Acting Governor of the Straits Settlements. However, when the First World War broke out, the British government in Singapore classified all Germans as enemy forces. Most of the Germans in Singapore either fled or were shipped to Australia, and the Teutonia Club seized by the Custodian of Enemy Property.
In 1918, the building was auctioned off by the Custodian of Enemy Property to three Jewish brothers – Morris, Ezekiel and Ellis Manasseh, who also bought five other houses behind it. The entire estate was renamed Goodwood Hall, after the famous Goodwood Racecourse in England.[2] A bar was added, as well as a restaurant and café, and it was registered in 1922 as a restaurant-café-entertainment establishment,[4] It served as a venues for social gatherings and entertainment, hosting for example a performance by the ballerina Anna Pavlova.[2] It also host sports amenities. In April 1929, the building was turned into a hotel named the Goodwood Park Hotel, with rooms added to the Tower Wing and the houses at the rear used as suites.
Old Hill Street Police Station
The Old Hill Street Police Station is a historic building and former police station of the Singapore Police Force located at Hill Street within the Downtown Core in the Central Area of Singapore.
Also known as Balai Polis Hill Street Lama and (Chinese: 旧禧街警察局) in Malay and Chinese respectively, the name was changed from Old Hill Street Police Station to "MITA Building" in 1999, followed by "MICA Building" in 2004. After the change of ministries in November 2012, the name "MICA Building" was reverted to "Old Hill Street Police Station".
The building has a total of 927 windows and they are painted in the colours of the rainbow. Some may notice that the coloured windows on the first four stories have the same vibrant intensity, while the upper windows gradually intensify to accentuate the cantilevered balconies which are interesting architectural features of this historical building.
The Istana
The Istana is also the office of the prime minister of Singapore and is home to Sri Temasek, the official residence of the prime minister since Singapore's independence in 1965, though none of the prime ministers have ever lived there. The 106 acres (0.43 km2) estate was once part of the extensive nutmeg plantation of Mount Sophia. In 1867, the British colonial government acquired the land and built a mansion to be the official home of the British governor. This continued until 1959 when Singapore was granted self-government, and the governor was replaced by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, who was in turn replaced by the president.
The building continued to be used by governors of the newly created Crown Colony of Singapore. When Singapore attained self-rule in 1959, the building was handed over to the Government of Singapore. It was then renamed the Istana. Yusof Ishak was appointed the first local head of state, the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, and took up office at the Istana. The building was extensively renovated between 1996 and 1998 to add more space and modern-day conveniences. The building today has six function rooms used for ceremonial and entertainment purposes. The offices of the President of Singapore and her staff are in the building.
National Museum of Singapore
The National Museum of Singapore is a public museum dedicated to Singaporean art, culture and history. Located within the country's Civic District at the Downtown Core area, it is the oldest museum in the country, with its history dating back to when it was first established in 1849, starting out as a section of a library at the Singapore Institution as the Raffles Library and Museum.
After several relocations over the next few decades, the museum moved to its current permanent site at Stamford Road in 1887. Between 1993 and March 2006, it was briefly known as the Singapore History Museum, before it subsequently returned to its present name that was first given in 1965. The museum preserves and interprets Singapore's social history, exploring the key events and people that have shaped the nation. Over the centuries, the National Museum of Singapore has expanded and undergone various expansions and renovations, with the most recent being a three-and-a-half-year restoration that was completed on 2 December 2006, and was officially reopened on 7 December 2006 by former President of Singapore S. R. Nathan and the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang. The Singapore History Gallery would open on 8 December that same year.
It is one of six national museums in the country, the other five being the two Asian Civilisations Museums at Empress Place Building and Old Tao Nan School respectively, the Singapore Art Museum, Peranakan Museum as well as the National Gallery Singapore. The National Museum of Singapore is also one of the country's national monuments, having been designated as such in 1992 by the National Heritage Board. It is one of the largest museums in Asia. The National Museum of Singapore exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. Admission to the National Museum of Singapore is complimentary for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents.
Lau Pa Sat
Lau Pa Sat (Chinese: 老 巴 刹; pinyin: Lǎo Bāshā; lit. 'Old Market'), also known as Telok Ayer Market (Malay: Pasar Telok Ayer; Chinese: 直 落 亚 逸 巴 刹), is a historic building located within the Downtown Core in the Central Area of Singapore. It was first built in 1824 as a fish market on the waterfront serving the people of early colonial Singapore and rebuilt in 1838. It was then relocated and rebuilt at the present location in 1894. It is currently a food court with stalls selling a variety of local cuisine.
The market remains one of the oldest Victorian structures in South-East Asia and one of the first structures built in pre-fabricated cast iron in Asia. It is also the only remaining market left that served the residents in the central district of early Singapore. Telok Ayer Market (Malay: Pasar Telok Ayer; Chinese: 直 落 亚 逸 巴 刹) is named after Telok Ayer Bay. In the early nineteenth century, the market was a simple wooden building located on piles just over the waters of Telok Ayer Bay before land reclamation work filled in the bay. The Malay name Telok Ayer means "bay water", and the then coastal road Telok Ayer Street was located alongside the bay before land reclamation work started in 1879.
Lau Pa Sat (Chinese: 老 巴 刹; pinyin: Lǎo Bāshā) means "old market" in the vernacular Hokkien Chinese of Singapore. Lau (老) means old; pa sat is the Hokkien pronunciation of the Persian loanword "bazaar" (market) which is pasar in Malay. The original Telok Ayer market was one of the oldest markets in Singapore; a new market called Ellenborough Market was later built along Ellenborough Street (now the site of The Central shopping mall, next to Tew Chew Street), and that market became known to the locals as the "new market" (Pasar Baru or Sin Pa Sat, Ellenborough Street was known as Sin Pa Sat Kham meaning "the mouth of the new market"), while the Telok Ayer Market in turn became known colloquially as the "old market" or Lau Pa Sat. Because of its Victorian iron structure, the market is also referred to in Malay as pasar besi (market of iron).
MacDonald House
The MacDonald House is a prominent building and monument in Singapore, located at Orchard Road in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area of the country. Built in 1949, it was the first building to be fully air-conditioned in Southeast Asia. Located a short distance from the Istana, it was the last remaining office building in facing brick in the central area.
Initially built mostly as a bank, it continues to function as a banking hall (albeit for a different bank) today with various other companies, although it is better known as the historic site of a bombing attack in 1965 at the height of Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (Konfrontasi). It was designated as a national monument of Singapore in 2003. The building was built in 1949 and designed by Reginal Eyre of the architectural firm Palmer and Turner. It was named after Malcolm MacDonald, the then Governor-General of Malaya. One of the first high-rise buildings in Orchard Road, the MacDonald House housed mainly British, American and Australian companies. It also house EMI's recording studios, used by local bands during the 'pop yeh-yeh' period. Before the building was vacated in the early 2000s, the building housed HSBC on the first few floors of the building. In an incident known as the MacDonald House bombing, three Indonesian saboteurs placed a bomb on the mezzanine floor on 10 March 1965, killing three and wounding 33. This was one of a number of terrorist attacks in Singapore during the Indonesian Confrontation in support of President Sukarno's opposition to the merger of Singapore, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia. At the time of the bombing, the building also housed the Australian High Commission and the Japanese Consulate.
After years of remaining vacant, the building was put up for sale by tender on 5 April 2002, with a net lettable area of about 78,600 square feet (7,300 m2) over ten stories. While the sale was on-going, the building was gazetted as a national monument on 10 February 2003, with the exterior façade coming under protection. The successful bidder, Tinifia Investment, paid S$36 million for the freehold building in 2003 and closed the building for extensive interior renovations costing another S$12 million, including the upgrading of the ceilings, floors, lobby and lifts, and the introduction of car parking facilities with the addition of a mechanical parking system for 30 cars. The building re-opened in April 2005 with full occupancy. McCann Worldgroup occupies the fifth to eighth floors while a beauty/spa operator, Expressions International, takes up the top two floors. The flagship Orchard Road Branch of Citibank Singapore opened on 23 June 2005, occupying 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2) of space spread over the building's lower four floors which house the largest wealth management centre in Asia.
Bowyer Block
Bowyer Block, formerly known as the Upper Block, is a historic building which previously served as the main administration building of the Singapore General Hospital. It currently houses the Singapore General Hospital Museum. The building was gazetted as a National Monument in 2009.
The façade of the portico is lined with Colossal Tuscan columns. There were initially wing extensions on both sides of the portico, with one of the extensions being demolished in the early 1980s. The building features a clock tower with clock faces on all sides, each flanked by Doric pilasters and topped by a triangular pediment. The building was constructed in 1926, along with the Middle Block and the Lower Block of the Singapore General Hospital. It was designed by government architect Percy Hubert Keys. Following the World War II, the building was renamed to Bowyer Block, after John Herbert Bowyer, the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital who had been tortured to death by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. The building served as the main admistration building of the hospital, and housed the staff quarters, the first and second class male wards, some first class female wards, the School of Nursing, the Department of Renal Medicine, an X-ray department and several other departments and clinics.
In June 1981, most of the building's facilities were moved to either the Lower Block, which by then had been renamed the Norris Block, or the new Singapore General Hospital, which was officially opened in September. The Singapore General Hospital Museum was established in the hospital in 2005. The building was gazetted as a National Monument on 11 November 2009.
Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
The villa was designed in 1900 and built in 1901 by Boey Chuan Poh (梅春輔; 1874-1926), a businessman who owned the newspaper Union Times. The villa was rumoured to be a home for his mistress Bin Chan, hence it was called "Bin Chan House". In 1902, Boey sold the villa for $10,800 to Lim Ah Siang (林亞相; 1866-1925), the towkay of a timber business in Johor and Singapore and the leader of the Teochew secret society Ngee Heng Kongsi. The building was constructed in a classical colonial style, featuring ornate arched windows and doors, eaves decorated with floral patterns, and movable louvred windows.
In 1905, rubber magnate Teo Eng Hock (張永福; 1872–1957) bought the villa for his mother, Tan Poh Neo, as a place of retirement and renamed it "Wan Qing Yuan". In July 1905, Sun Yat Sen met Teo, Tan Chor Lam (陳楚南; 1884–1971) and Lim Nee Soon in Singapore through his close friend, Yau Lit, while en route to Europe from Japan. In April 1906, when Sun visited Singapore again, Teo offered his villa for use as the Tongmenghui's headquarters in Southeast Asia. At the villa, the Tongmenghui planned numerous uprisings and fundraising activities leading to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, which ended imperial rule in China under the Qing dynasty. Three uprisings of the Xinhai Revolution – Chaozhou Uprising (May 1907), Zhennanguan Uprising (December 1907), and Hekou Uprising (April 1908) – were planned in the villa.[1] Teo and his wife, Tan Sok Jee, sewed the flag of the Republic of China in the villa.
After Teo sold the villa in 1912, the villa changed ownership multiple times until it was purchased in 1937 by six Chinese leading businessmen in Singapore: Lee Kong Chian (李光前; 1893–1967), Tan Ean Kiam (陳延謙; 1881–1943), Lee Chin Tian (李振殿), Chew Hean Swee (周獻瑞; 1884–1960), Lee Choon Seng (李俊承; 1888—1966) and Yeo Kiat Tiow (楊吉兆). In the following year, they donated the villa to the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCCI).[1] After the establishment of the Republic of China, the Nationalist government funded the refurbishment of the villa and converted it into a memorial hall in 1940. At the same time, they gathered information and artefacts related to Sun Yat Sen from overseas Chinese communities and opened the hall to the public.
Old Parliament House - The Arts House
The Arts House (formerly the Old Parliament House) is a multi-disciplinary arts venue in Singapore. The venue plays host to art exhibitions and concerts. Built in 1827, the Old Parliament House is the oldest government building and perhaps the oldest surviving building in Singapore. The building was home to the Parliament of Singapore from 1965 to 1999, when it moved to an adjacent new building.
The building occupies one of the most historic sites of Singapore. During the refurbishment of the building in 1989, archaeological evidence of older habitation in the area was uncovered with stoneware and earthenware dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries found.[2] The building's river frontage was also where Sir Stamford Raffles was presumed to have landed on 29 January 1819. The area was occupied by Temenggong Abdul Rahman and his family and followers. Raffles would later persuade the Temenggong to move to Telok Blangah in 1823 as he planned for the land to be used for public and administrative purposes. The building was designed as a Neo-Palladian mansion by architect George Drumgoole Coleman for a Scottish merchant, John Argyle Maxwell, who was based in Java. It was intended to be his private residence, however, Maxwell never occupied the house due in part to a dispute over the ownership of the land on which the house was built. Raffles had originally allocated the land for government use in his Town Plan, however, Raffles' successor John Crawfurd issued a permit allowing Maxwell to build a house on the site.
The construction of the Old Parliament House began in 1826 and it was completed in 1827. Maxwell applied for a statutory grant to the site in 1827, and the Resident Councillor of Singapore, John Prince objected as the land was intended for government use. A compromise was then struck whereby Maxwell was granted a 999-year lease in June 1827, but the house would be leased back to the government for a 500 rupees monthly rent.[4] Later Maxwell's residence went up for auction which the colonial government won with a bid of $15,600 Spanish dollars, and the ownership of the courthouse finally transferred to Governor George Bonham and the East India Company on 10 October 1842.
Parliament House, Singapore
The Parliament House is a public building and a cultural landmark in Singapore. It houses the Parliament of Singapore and is located in the Civic District of the Downtown Core within the Central Area. Within its vicinity is Raffles Place, which lies across from the Parliament House from the Singapore River, and the Supreme Court's building across the road. The building was designed to represent a contemporary architectural expression of stateliness and authority. The prism-shaped top, designed by President Ong Teng Cheong, was similarly a modernist take on the traditional dome.
The space constraints faced by the Old Parliament House were felt since the early 1980s, when the members of parliament grew from 51 in 1963 to 75 in 1983, a point made by then Leader of the House, Edmund William Barker during a parliamentary debate on 16 March 1983. The old building had been renovated several times to accommodate the demand for space, but there was a limit as to how much the building could be widened without disrupting the Chamber's configuration and causing discomfort to its members. The debate concluded in 1989, when the First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong proposed the idea to build a new parliament house. The project started in earnest in May 1989, when a project team was formed to design and build the new house. Headed by Liu Thai Ker, CEO and Chief Planner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), it comprised architects and engineers from the URA and the Public Works Department (PWD). Various designs were put forth by PWD architects for the new site next to the existing parliament house, led by PWD Director Chua Hua Meng and Deputy Director Lee Kut Cheung.
In 1992, the project was approved by the government with a budget of S$148.2 million. The following year, the Committee on the Parliament Complex Development Project was established, headed by the Speaker of Parliament Tan Soo Khoon, and with Wong Kan Seng, Lee Boon Yang, and Lim Hng Kiang as its members. Tasked to liaise with architects in the planning and construction of the building, the committee members also went on two overseas study missions to gather ideas to be incorporated into the building's design. The first trip was made to Australia, where visits were made to the newly built Parliament House in Canberra. Here, extensive attention was paid to public education of the parliamentary system in the form of galleries, moot parliaments. A second visit was made to Europe, to incorporate contrasting older, traditional ideas into the building's design. With these ideas incorporated, the new building's concept plan was approved by the Cabinet in 1994. Construction began in 1995 on the expunged Hallpike Street under the direction of PWD Director Chua Hua Meng and Deputy Director Tan Chee Wee and was completed in July 1999 at a cost of S$115.2 million. On 6 September 1999, the flag of Singapore was lowered for the last time at the old Parliament House, before the ceremonial "walk over" was conducted from the old building to the new. Led by the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister, the entourage of MPs walked along Parliament Place, a renamed segment of High Street, Singapore, before reaching the new Parliament House where the flag was unfurled and hoisted with the national anthem being played. The entourage then filed into the new Chamber, where the parliamentary debate resumed. On 4 October 1999, the building was officially opened with a simple ceremony held at the building's foyer, where a stainless steel plaque was unveiled before 100 MPs and invited guests.
Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel is a British colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore. It is the flagship property of Raffles Hotels & Resorts and is managed by AccorHotels after Accor acquired FRHI Hotels & Resorts. The hotel is owned by Qatar-based, government-owned Katara Hospitality.
Raffles Hotel Singapore started as a privately owned beach house built in the early 1830s. It first became Emerson's Hotel when Dr. Charles Emerson leased the building in 1878. Upon his death in 1883, the hotel closed, and the Raffles Institution stepped in to use the building as a boarding house until Dr. Emerson's lease expired in September 1887. Almost immediately after the first lease expired, the Sarkies Brothers leased the property from Syed Mohamed Alsagoff, its owner, with the intention of turning it into a high-end hotel. A few months later, on 1 December 1887, the ten-room Raffles Hotel opened. Its proximity to the beach and its reputation for high standards in services and accommodations made the hotel popular with wealthy clientele.
Within the hotel's first decade, three new buildings were added on to the original beach house. First, a pair of two-story wings were completed in 1890, each containing 22 guest suites. Soon afterward, the Sarkies Brothers leased a neighboring building at No. 3 Beach Road, renovated it, and in 1894, the Palm Court Wing was completed. The new additions brought the hotel's total guest rooms to 75. A few years later, a new main building was constructed on the site of the original beach house. Designed by architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell of Swan and Maclaren, it was completed in 1899. The new main building offered numerous state-of-the-art (for the time) features, including powered ceiling fans and electric lights. In fact, the Raffles Hotel was the first hotel in the region to have electric lights.
St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore
Saint Andrew's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Singapore. It is located near City Hall, Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district. It is the main cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and serves as the mother church of 27 parishes and more than 55 congregations. The church has existed on the site since 1836, although the current building was constructed in 1856–1861. The logo of the cathedral is the St Andrew's Cross. In 2006, it marked the 150th anniversary of the St Andrew's Church Mission, which was initiated in 1856.
A piece of land between Hill Street and North Bridge Road was originally allocated by Sir Stamford Raffles in his Town Plan of 1822 for the siting of an Anglican church. However, construction of the church did not begin until funds were raised by the community in 1834. The church was built between North Bridge Road and St Andrew's Road. The church was named Saint Andrew after the patron saint of Scotland in honour of the Scottish community who had donated to the building fund. The first Saint Andrew's Church was designed by George Drumgoole Coleman in the neo-classical style. The foundation stone was laid on 9 November 1835, and the building constructed by 1836. The first church service was conducted on 18 June 1837 by the first chaplain, Reverend Edmund White, and the church was consecrated on 10 September 1838 by Bishop Daniel Wilson of Calcutta.
After complaints that the church resembled a "Town Hall, a College or an Assembly Room", a spire was added by John Turnbull Thomson in 1842. The spire was built without a lightning conductor, however, and the church suffered two lightning strikes in 1845 and 1849. It was then declared unsafe and closed in 1852, and subsequently demolished in 1855. The church had a bell known as the Revere Bell, named after Mrs Maria Revere Balestier, the wife of American Consul Joseph Balestier, who donated it in 1843.
St James Power Station
St James Power Station is a building located in Harbour Front, Singapore. Built in 1926, it was Singapore's first power station, having supplied electricity to the nearby port and the surrounding industries, shipyards and residences. It was previously also the one and only coal-fired power plant in the country. After it was decommissioned in the 1970s, it became a warehouse and subsequently as a major music-themed nightlife venue until 2018. In 2009, St James Power Station was designated as one of the country's national monuments by the National Heritage Board.
It is currently used as the headquarters for the technological company Dyson as well as being the site of a heritage trail and gallery tour dedicated to Singapore's port and industrial history. The site on which the power station sits was a small headland that was a tidal swamp with a small inhabitation of "Orang Laut" that lived on stilt-houses and fished for a living. Electricity was first generated in Singapore for local public infrastructures, such as the Port of Singapore, operated by the Singapore Harbour Board (SHB) in 1897, and subsequently the electric trams and street-lighting by the Singapore Tramway Company (STC) in 1902.
Later, it was considered that the electricity generated, which was mainly channelled to power the trams, could also be used to supply local small-towns and districts like Tanglin, at around a period of time when there was a generally-steady increase in demand for electricity over the years. Electricity was rapidly becoming a necessity rather than a luxury as businesses and households needed to power their electrical appliances, gear and equipment. The few and small power plants run by the STC proved to be inadequate to fulfill such a growing need and the British colonial administration of Singapore desperately needed a power plant that would be able to meet growing industrial and domestic needs and allow for Singapore's continued development and future growth.
Saint Joseph's Institution
The former Saint Joseph's Institution (Chinese: 前圣约瑟书院) is a historic building in Singapore, located at Bras Basah Road in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area. The building previously housed the Lasallian school Saint Joseph's Institution. However, it came into disuse after St. Joseph's Institution moved into a new campus on Malcolm Road in 1988. The building has since been restored and currently houses the Singapore Art Museum.
Built on the site of a small Catholic chapel erected in the 1830s, the first in Singapore, the former Saint Joseph's Institution is another example of the work of a 19th-century French priest-architect, Brother Lothaire. Brother Lothaire was one of six Brothers, five Sisters and two young missionaries who came to Singapore with Reverend Father Jean Marie Beurel on his return from France in 1852 to found the new Catholic boys' school of Saint Joseph's Institution. When the school was first completed in 1867, the completed building which is the current central block comprised a two-storey rectangular block with a pitched roof and modest belfry.
In 1903-1906, Father Nain, the then parish priest, added two new semi-circular wings to match the architectural theme of the central block and to define the fine Baroque entrance forecourt which is such an important part of the urban area in which it stands. This quality has been all but destroyed in recent years. In 1910, verandahs running along the whole length of the building were added at the rear, a large dome built that replaced the old belfry was lined with teak and the cross was erected. New pediments and a parapet were also added. Brother Michael was responsible for the hall, gymnasium and the chapel, which were added between 1911 and 1912.
Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House
The Singapore Conference Hall is a multipurpose building located in the heart of the financial district of Shenton Way in Downtown Core of Singapore. The first building to be constructed along Shenton Way, it was a place for conferences and exhibitions in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, it is refurbished and modernised into a concert hall, home to the Singapore Chinese Orchestra since 2001. Completed in 1965 at a cost of S$4 million at that time, it was an example of the nation's urban architecture then. The building is situated on a three-acre site at the junction of Shenton Way and Maxwell Road. It was gazetted as a national monument on 28 December 2010.
During the 1959 general election, the People’s Action Party proposed a headquarters for the trade unions as part of its five-year plan for Singapore. A site on Armenian Street, formerly Saint Andrew's School, was initially chosen in 1960, but a larger site along Shenton Way was chosen instead in 1961. In June 1961, the government requested architects in Singapore and Malaya to submit design proposals for the building, and two local architects, Ng Keng Siang and Tio Seng Chin, were to judge them. Malayan Architects Co-Partnership's design was subsequently selected by the government in March 1962, and the designers behind the top three submissions received cash prizes. Construction of the Singapore Conference Hall began in August 1962, with the building's foundation stone laid by a low-ranking trade unionist on 9 August. The structural parts of the building were completed by July 1964, but completion of the building, initially scheduled for end-1964, was delayed, which was attributed by a top government official to the building's "complicated nature".
The Conference Hall and Trade Union House was eventually opened in October 1965, in time for the National Trade Union Congress's annual conference, and cost S$4 million. Opened on 15 October 1965 by Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, the Dewan Persidangan Singapura dan Rumah Kesatuan Sekerja (Malay for Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House) as it was formerly known was built to house the headquarters of the National Trades Union Congress and host various exhibitions and conferences. Closely linked to Singapore’s history, the building witnessed several significant events in the post-independence years.
Siong Lim Temple
Siong Lim Temple is the common Hokkien or Fukien name of the (Lian Shan) Shuang Lin Monastery (Chinese: （蓮 山）雙 林 寺; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Liân-san-siang-lîm-sī), pinyin: (Lián Shān) Shuāng Lín sì), which literally means "Twin Grove of the Lotus Mountain Temple".[4] The name of the monastery refers to the twin groves of sala trees located at the Bodhgaya in India, where Buddha was believed to have attained enlightenment. It is also commonly referred to as Siong Lim Temple or, in the past, Low Kim Pong’s Temple after its founder. The Buddhist temple was built on a 40,000 square metres site owned by Low Kim Pong (劉 金 榜), a wealthy Chinese Hoklo (Hokkien) merchant and devout Buddhist. When Low Kim Pong was sixty, he had a dream where he saw a golden light rising from the west over the sea (the west being symbolic of Buddhism which originated in India and is west of China). He took the dream to be an omen and went to the coast the next day. At dusk, he met an unusual Hokkien family arriving by boat.
The entire family had taken Buddhist vows and were on their way home to Fujian after a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka. Low, moved by their devotion, tried to persuade them to stay in Singapore and spread the faith. He promised to build a temple for their use. The head of that family, Hsien Hui (賢 慧), eventually became Siong Lim's first abbot. The funds used for its construction were raised by Low Kim Pong and Yeo Poon Seng, one of the saw mill pioneers during the period. In 1950s, the temple area was reduced to about 20,000 m² when part of the land was acquired by the Singapore Improvement Trust for public housing. Today, the temple still stands as a landmark amongst residential HDB flats. The temple was gazetted a national monument on 17 October 1980, symbolising the social and cultural roots of the early Chinese immigrants.
Sri Mariamman Temple
The Sri Mariamman Temple (Tamil: ஸ்ரீ மாரியம்மன் கோவில்) is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple. It is an agamic temple, built in the Dravidian style. Located at 244 South Bridge Road, in the downtown Chinatown district, the temple serves the majority Hindu Singaporeans, Tamilians, in the city-state. Due to its architectural and historical significance, the temple has been gazetted a National Monument and is a major tourist attraction. Sri Mariamman Temple is managed by the Hindu Endowments Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The Sri Mariamman Temple was founded in 1827 by Naraina Pillai, eight years after the East India Company established a trading settlement in Singapore. Pillai was a government clerk from Penang who arrived in Singapore with Sir Stamford Raffles on his second visit to the island in May 1819. Pillai went on to set up the island's first construction company, and also entered the textile trade. He rapidly established himself in business and was identified as a leader of the Indian community. Initially, the British authorities allotted land for a Hindu temple along Telok Ayer Street. This street ran alongside Telok Ayer Bay, where most early Asian immigrants first landed in Singapore, and where they went to pray and give thanks for a safe sea journey. The Thian Hock Keng and Nagore Dargha Shrine, respectively Singapore's earliest Chinese and Indian Muslim places of worship, are located there. However, Telok Ayer Street lacked a convenient source of fresh water which was needed for Hindu temple rituals.
The British Resident of Singapore, William Farquhar, then let Pillai occupy a site near Stamford Canal in 1821. Once again, the site proved unsuitable, this time due to the 1822 Jackson Plan which reserved the Stamford Canal area for other uses. However, the plan designated an alternative site next to the existing temple – marked as "Kling Chapel" ("Kling" is a derogatory term for Indians in Singapore and Malaysia). This site was near the area earmarked for the Indian community. In 1823, the current South Bridge Road site was finally granted to Pillai for the purposes of erecting a Hindu temple. The side streets flanking the temple were later renamed in reference to the temple and its prominent tower – Pagoda Street and Temple Street.
Sultan Mosque
Sultan Mosque or Masjid Sultan is a mosque located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam precinct of the district of Rochor in Singapore. It was named after Sultan Hussain Shah. In 1975, it was designated a national monument.
The mosque was two-thirds complete and was formally opened on 27 December 1929. The mosque was fully completed in 1932. The Sultan Mosque has stayed essentially unchanged since it was built, with only repairs carried out to the main hall in 1968 and an annex added in 1993.
It was gazetted as a national monument on 8 March 1975. The mosque is managed by its own board of trustees and management board.
The Salvation Army in Penang Road
The Salvation Army in Singapore was established in 1935
The Salvation Army is an international organization with the mission to meet human needs and provide comfort and support to those in need, regardless of age, race or religion. Operating as a charity in Singapore for more than 88 years, The Salvation Army has helped a wide group of individuals and families in the society each year ranging from vulnerable children and youth, frail elderly, isolated migrant workers, ex-offenders, and struggling families and individuals. Through our social programmes like Gracehaven, Peacehaven and others.
The Salvation Army aims to uplift and empower those who are struggling. With community-focused programs, The Salvation Army provides compassion and care for the marginalized without discrimination. The organization’s outreach is motivated by God’s love and compassion, and a desire to help the vulnerable.
The Salvation Army in Singapore was established in 1935. Our headquarters was first located on Killiney Road. In meeting the needs of vulnerable women at that time, a home to care for women who were destitute and victims of forced prostitution and a school that taught English and tailoring were set up in 1937, and later developed as the Women’s Industrial Home at River Valley Road. The expansion of our work took our headquarters to Tank Road (later renamed as Clemenceau Avenue) in January 1938. After 50 years, we shifted to Changi for a brief period before relocating to our current location at Bishan in 1994.
Former Supreme Court
The Former Supreme Court Building (Malay: Bangunan Mahkamah Agung Lama, Chinese: 最高 法 院 大 厦) is the former courthouse of the Supreme Court of Singapore, before it moved out of the building and commenced operations in the new building on 20 June 2005. The building was the last structure in the style of classical architecture to be built in the former British colony. The building, together with the City Hall, has been converted into National Gallery Singapore which was opened in 2015.
On 1 April 1937, the original foundation stone of the Supreme Court Building, (then the biggest foundation stone in the whole of Malaya) was laid by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Shenton Whitelegge Thomas. Buried beneath the stone, is a time capsule containing six Singaporean newspapers dated 31 March 1937, and a handful of coins of the Straits Settlements. The capsule is not due to be retrieved until the year 3000. The Supreme Court building was declared open on 3 August 1939 by Sir Shenton Thomas and handed over to the Chief Justice, Sir Percy McElwaine, on the same day.
The building was the site of war crime trials of members of the Japanese Imperial Army in 1946 after the World War II. The Former Supreme Court Building, together with the adjacent City Hall, was converted into the National Gallery Singapore opened in 2015.
Tanjong Pagar railway station
Tanjong Pagar railway station (Malay: Stesen Keretapi Tanjong Pagar; Chinese: 丹 戎 巴 葛 火 车 总 站; Tamil: தஞ்சோங் பகார் ரயில் நிலையம்), also called Singapore railway station (Malay: Stesen Keretapi Singapura; Chinese: 新 加 坡 火 车 站; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் ரயில் நிலையம்) or Keppel Road railway station, is a former railway station located at 30 Keppel Road in Singapore. The station was the southern terminus of the network operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), the main railway operator in Malaysia, until 30 June 2011 when the station ceased operations with relocation of the KTM station to Woodlands Train Checkpoint.
The land on which the station and the KTM railway tracks stood was originally owned by KTM and over which Malaysia had partial sovereignty. This arrangement lasted until 30 June 2011, when rail service to Tanjong Pagar was ended and the land reverted to Singapore. The main building of the railway station was gazetted as a national monument on 9 April 2011,[4] completing one of the objectives of the new Points of Agreement between Malaysia and Singapore. It will be a future site for Cantonment MRT station, one of the stations for Circle MRT line Stage 6.
Before the Johor-Singapore Causeway across the Straits of Johor was built, the railway in Singapore was limited to the island. The construction of the causeway began in 1919, and it was opened to goods trains on 17 September 1923 and to passenger trains on 1 October 1923. Previously, passengers and goods, particularly to service the transportation of tin and rubber industry in Malaya were transferred at Woodlands to a ferry to Johor Bahru and the connecting train on the peninsula. Tanjong Pagar railway station was completed on 3 May 1932 and officially opened by Sir Cecil Clementi. It was around for 79 years before it ceased operations on 1 July 2011 to be reserved as the Singapore Railway Museum.
Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall
The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall is a performing arts centre in the Central Area of Singapore, situated along Empress Place. It is a complex of two buildings and a clock tower joined together by a common corridor; the oldest part of the building was first built in 1862, and the complex was completed in 1909. The complex has undergone a number of renovations and refurbishment, mostly recently in 2010 when the complex was closed for a four-year renovation project. It reopened on 15 July 2014.
The buildings in the complex have been used for a number of purposes, such as public events, political meetings, exhibitions, musical and stage performances, and for a brief period as a hospital. The concert hall is used as a performance venue by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), and the complex is managed by Arts House Limited. The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall was gazetted as a national monument on 14 February 1992. The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall first began as the Town Hall in 1862. In the early 1900s a second public hall was built next to it joined by a clock tower to form a larger complex. The Town Hall was originally built to replace the older Assembly Rooms, where local operas and dramas were held but had fallen into disrepair. The foundation stone was laid in 1855, and the building completed in 1862.
The building was designed by the Municipal Engineer, John Bennett. It was built during an era of Victorian Revivalism that was then popular in Britain, and its design therefore reflected this architectural style with Italianate windows, and it was the first such building in Singapore built in this style. The completed town hall originally housed a theatre on the ground floor as well as meeting rooms and offices of various government agencies on the second floor. It also housed the Singapore Library from 1862 to 1876. However, the increase in population resulted in higher demand for entertainment, and the town hall was unable to cope with increasing demand for the use of the building for both entertainment and as administrative purposes, thus by 1893, the offices was moved out of the building.
Singapore Cricket Club since 1852
Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) is a sports club located at the heart of the city’s civic centre along Connaught Drive and overlooking the Padang. It was established in 1852 and has evolved over the years from being an elite colonial sports club to a multi-racial club catering to the sporting and social needs of the Singaporean community. It is the second oldest club in Singapore, a decade younger than the Singapore Turf Club, then known as the Singapore Sporting Club.
The birth of the Cricket Club began with the game of cricket itself. The game was popular among the early European community in Singapore in the mid-19th century and was played at the Padang as early as 1837. In October 1852, the first meeting was held to discuss formally setting up a cricket club. Two historic matches were set on the same month between “The Club” and selected teams, but both teams failed to raise full strength. It was only in March 1853 that the club managed to play its first 11-a-side fixture, with players from the local British merchant community and officers from the military garrison.
The club built its first wooden-hut pavilion in the 1860s and completed its second pavilion, a single-storey bungalow, in 1877.8 Membership then numbered at 98, but increased to 378 by 1891. The third pavilion was built in 1884 on the current site and forms the core of the current structure. A fourth pavilion was added in 1907 as a result of the growing membership. In 1922, the northern and southern wings were added, making the clubhouse as it is today. The Cricket Club has undergone other changes in recent times, including major renovations to its clubhouse and the addition of facilities such as squash courts.
The former Asia Insurance Building (Chinese: 亚洲保险大厦; pinyin: Yàzhōu Bǎoxiǎn dàshà), now named Ascott Raffles Place, lies in the heart of the Central Business District of Singapore, at the corner of Finlayson Green and Raffles Quay. Standing at 270 feet (82 metres), it surpassed the Cathay Building to be the tallest tower in Singapore until the completion of Meritus Mandarin Tower 1 in 1971. Designed by one of Singapore's pioneer architects, Ng Keng Siang, the office building was completed in 1955 and served as the headquarters for the Asia Insurance Company, one of the first local insurance companies.
In 2006, the building was acquired by the Ascott Group and the office tower has since been refurbished into a serviced apartment residence. Renamed as Ascott Raffles Place, the building sits on a 999-year leasehold site with a building footprint of about 950 square meters. The site was formerly occupied by the Union Insurance of Canton. In 1924, the company vacated and was resided by the South British Insurance Company. In 1947, the site was acquired by the Asia Insurance Company.
The concept of the Asia Insurance Building was crafted by Lee Leung Ki, the first General Manager of Asia Insurance Company. Lee wanted a building that would be a landmark and reflect the financial stability of the Asia Insurance Company.[2] The intention was fulfilled by Architect Ng Keng Siang, the first Singaporean to become a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Swissôtel The Stamford
Swissôtel The Stamford, formerly known as The Westin Stamford, is a hotel in Singapore managed by Accor. Designed by architect I.M. Pei, at a height of 226 metres (741 ft) it was the tallest hotel in the world when opened in 1986 and remains one of Southeast Asia's tallest hotels.
It is part of the Raffles City complex comprising two hotels, the Raffles City Convention Centre, Raffles City shopping centre, and an office tower. Situated at 2 Stamford Road, the hotel sits above City Hall MRT station and Esplanade MRT station. The 5-star hotel is a sister hotel of Fairmont Singapore and has 1,252 rooms and suites, 12 restaurants and bars, Raffles City Convention Centre, and one of Asia's largest spas, Willow Stream Spa. A major renovation of the hotel was completed in 2019.
The hotel was designed by architect I.M. Pei as The Westin Stamford, along with its adjacent smaller sister hotel, The Westin Plaza. When completed by the South Korean firm SsangYong Group in 1986, the Westin Stamford was the world's tallest hotel building, rising to a height of 226 metres (741 ft), and held that title until 1997 when the Baiyoke Tower II was completed in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Interlace
The Interlace is a 1,040-unit apartment building complex located at the boundary between Bukit Merah and Queenstown, Singapore. Noteworthy for its break from the typical tower design in cities with high population densities, it resembles Jenga blocks irregularly stacked upon each other. Designed by The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), it was awarded the World Building of the Year title at the 2015 World Architecture Festival.
The 170,000 square meters Interlace complex sits on 8 hectares of land, at the corner of Depot Road and Alexandra Road. It has 31 residential blocks with units ranging in size from 800 square feet to 6,300 square feet for the penthouses at the top of each block. Recreational facilities include swimming pools, a gym, and tennis courts. The Interlace's site formerly housed the 607 units Gillman Heights Condominium, which is 50 percent owned by the National University of Singapore (NUS). The property was subsequently sold to CapitaLand through a collective sale but the sale was controversial as NUS held a 16 percent stake in Ankerite, a private fund that was a subsidiary of CapitaLand.
The Interlace was designed by Ole Scheeren and the architecture firm OMA. The project architects who followed the project through to completion while resolving design and compliance issues were RSP Architects Planners & Engineers. The project was commissioned in 2007 and finished in 2013. The property has a 99-year lease from the Singapore government since 2009. The property is surrounded by several parks that are connected and promote the Singapore Green initiative of 2012.
One Raffles Place
One Raffles Place is a skyscraper in Downtown Core, Singapore. The development comprises two towers and a podium. The 280 m (920 ft) tall Tower One and the 38-storey Tower Two house offices, while the podium contains retail space. Initially conceived in the late 1970s as Overseas Union Bank Centre, the headquarters of Overseas Union Bank (OUB), work on the building began in 1981, while construction of the superstructure subsequently commenced in October 1984.
Costing S$486 million to build, OUB Centre opened in two phases in June and December 1986, and 90% of its office space was occupied upon opening. At the time of its completion, The Business Times claimed that the complex's tower was the tallest in the world outside the United States.
The building came under the control of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) upon their takeover of OUB in 2001 and was subsequently sold to Lippo Group in 2005 as part of Overseas Union Enterprises (OUE). In June 2008, the building's retail podium was redeveloped to make way for a second office tower, which opened in September 2012, and was rebranded as One Raffles Place. The refurbished podium subsequently reopened in May 2014.
Guoco Tower
Guoco Tower is a mixed-use development skyscraper in Tanjong Pagar of the Downtown Core district of Singapore. With a height of 283.7 m (931 ft), it is currently the tallest building in Singapore, breaking the record held jointly by UOB Plaza, One Raffles Place and Republic Plaza for more than 20 years.
Formerly known as the Tanjong Pagar Centre, the 65-storey, 1.7 million sq ft skyscraper was developed by GuocoLand and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.[citation needed] It is the headquarters of Guocoland Limited and is the only skyscraper exempted from the height restriction of 280m. Guoco Tower houses the rooftop Urban Park, the Wallich Residence apartment complex, and a hotel by Sofitel Hotels & Resorts.
The development won the 2014 World Architecture News Mixed-Use Award in the Future Projects category and was shortlisted for the 2015 World Architecture Festival Commercial Mixed-Use Award in the Future Projects category.
AXA Tower
AXA Tower, also known as 8 Shenton Way and formerly The Treasury and Temasek Tower, was the 16th-tallest skyscraper in the city of Singapore, at 234.7 m (770 ft), and the tallest cylindrical building in the world. It is currently in the process of demolition.
Built in 1986 for the Singapore government's Ministry of Finance as the Treasury Building, with 52 storeys it at once became one of the most prominent buildings in the city's business district. Singapore's present Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, had his office in the building, while he was Minister for Finance from 2001 to 2004.
The Advertising agency BBDO Worldwide later had its Asia Pacific Headquarters in the building, and the 14th floor housed the Embassy of Belgium. The structure consisted of steel beams cantilevered from a cylindrical concrete core, allowing full 360° views at the perimeter, unobstructed by perimeter columns. The tower housed sixteen double deck elevators supplied by Otis.
The Concourse
The Concourse (simplified Chinese: 鸿福中心; traditional Chinese: 鴻福中心; pinyin: Hóngfú zhōngxīn) is a post-modern high-rise commercial and residential building on Beach Road Kallang, Singapore opposite Nicoll Highway MRT station. The Concourse is located in Singapore's "Golden Mile", which refers to the strip of land between Nicoll Highway and Beach Road. It was planned by the Singapore Government as a high-rise spine fronting Kallang Basin. The area used to be occupied by squatters and small marine industries.
The Concourse's site was acquired in competition in the Urban Redevelopment Authority's 8th Sales of Sites programme in 1979. A project, developed by Cheong Eak Chong's Hong Fok Corporation, commenced in 1981 as the Hong Fok Centre but construction stopped when Singapore's economy was hit by a recession in the mid-1980s.
In 1987, the architectural firm Architects 61 and architect Paul Rudolph re-designed the complex. They retained what was already constructed and revamped the remainder in order to accommodate new programmatic requirements. Built at a cost of S$248.1 million and to a height of 175 metres (574 ft) for its office tower, The Concourse was completed on 5 February 1994.
Merlion
The Merlion (/ˈmɜːrˌlaɪən/) is the official mascot of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to represent both the city state and its people in sports teams, advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification.
The Merlion was first used in Singapore as the logo for the tourism board. Its name combines "mer", meaning the sea, and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name—Singapura—meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".
The symbol was designed by Alec Fraser-Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997 and has been its trademarked symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol.[2] Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion frequently appears on STB-approved souvenirs.
People's Park Complex
People's Park Complex (Chinese: 珍珠坊; pinyin: Zhēnzhū fāng) is a high-rise commercial and residential building in Singapore, situated in Park Road off Eu Tong Sen Street in Outram, within People's Park and next to Chinatown MRT station.
The People's Park Complex was a commercial housing project undertaken by the newly formed Urban Renewal Department of the Housing and Development Board's Sale of Sites programme. The project was the subject of the programme's first sale in 1967. Located at the foot of Pearl's Hill, the site where the People's Park Complex currently stands was an open public park. It later became the People's Market or Pearl's Market with outdoor stalls which was destroyed by a fire in 1966.
With a height of 103 metres (338 feet), the 31-storey People's Park Complex building was the first shopping centre of its kind in Southeast Asia and set the pattern for later retail developments in Singapore. The shopping centre was completed in October 1970, while the residential block was completed in 1973. Occupying 1 hectare in the heart of Chinatown, the People's Park Complex was the largest shopping complex in the shopping commercial belt along Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road.
Peace Centre
Peace Centre/Peace Mansion made its sixth attempt at a collective sale in September this year
Located at 1 Sophia Road, the District 9 property was built around 1977. It comprises 232 commercial units, 86 apartments and a carpark with 162 lots, totalling 319 strata lots in a 10-storey front podium block and a rear 32-storey tower.
The site currently has a 99-year tenure starting from June 2, 1970. The joint offerors will seek in-principle approval from the Singapore Land Authority to issue a fresh 99-year lease.
They will also seek approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to redevelop the property into a mixed-use commercial and residential development. The site, which spans 7,118 sq m, is currently zoned "commercial".
related:
OCBC Centre
OCBC Centre is a 197.7 m (649 ft), 52-storey skyscraper in Singapore. Serving as the current headquarters of OCBC Bank, the building was completed in 1976 and was the tallest building in the country, and South East Asia, at that time.
There are two extensions, OCBC Centre South and OCBC Centre East. There is an Executive Club on one of the higher floors of the building. OCBC Centre East has food and beverage outlets.
The building is an example of Brutalist architecture, a popular architectural style in the 1970s.
UOB Plaza
United Overseas Bank Plaza (UOB Plaza) is a commercial complex that consists of twin tower late-modernist skyscrapers in Singapore.
At completion, UOB Plaza One was one of the three tallest in the country, sharing the title with the OUB Centre and Republic Plaza; it is now the second tallest since the completion of Tanjong Pagar Centre (Guoco Tower) in 2016.
UOB Plaza Two is a shorter and older building that was completed in 1973 and later renovated in 1995 with a similar facade as UOB Plaza One. Both buildings are connected by a 45 m (148 ft) podium supported by four columns. The podium houses the banking hall of the United Overseas Bank's (UOB) main branch. The building was opened by then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 6 August 1995 which was 60 years after the founding of UOB.
Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered Singapore (officially Standard Chartered (Singapore) Limited) is the Singapore based subsidiary of British banking and financial services company, Standard Chartered. Opening its first branch in 1859, the bank is the one of the oldest in continuous operation in Singapore. The bank received its Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) licence in October, 1999, being one of the first foreign bank to qualify for the licence.
The bank (Standard Charted (Singapore) Limited) was officially incorporated in 2013 to handle Standard Chartered's Singapore Consumer Banking retail and SME banking business.[5] In 2018, operations of Standard Chartered in Singapore was merged with Standard Chartered Singapore, with the Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) licence transferred to the company. It currently operates a network of 19 branches, 7 Priority Banking centres and 31 ATMs in the country. The number of ATMs available for customers is expanded through its shared network under the atm5 network with Citibank Singapore, HSBC, State Bank of India, Maybank, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of China.
Construction of a 44 storey tall skyscraper at Battery Road for the bank's head office was completed in 1984. The building, which was known as the Standard Chartered Building, was the largest Standard Chartered building worldwide and it also represented the largest single investment by a British company at that point of time. Officially opened on 24 October 1984 by Anthony Barber, then chairman of the Standard Chartered Bank, the building stood on the site of the bank's first branch when it was first opened in 1859. In 1986, Khoo Teck Puat, the founder of Maybank acquired a significant stake for US$100 million in the bank's parent, Standard Chartered and later became the single largest shareholder of the banking group. Following his death in 2004, the stake valued at £2.3 billion was acquired by Temasek Holdings in 2006, making the investment arm of the Government of Singapore its largest shareholder.
SGX Centre
SGX Centre is a twin tower high-rise complex in the city of Singapore. The development consists of two 187 m (614 ft) skyscrapers, located in Shenton Way. The two towers are named SGX Centre One and SGX Centre Two, and are situated together on an elongated, rectangular site.
The towers house the Singapore Exchange Centre. A unique feature of the development is that it borders the existing business district and serves as a gateway to the new downtown at Marina South. SGX Centre One and Two was completed in 2000, and 2001 respectively. The buildings was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and the local Architects 61 Pte Ltd.
Other firms involved in the development of SGX Centre includes United Overseas Bank (UOB), Kajima Overseas Asia Private Limited, Oscar Faber Consultants Pte Ltd, Parsons Brinckerhoff Consultants Private Limited, Peridian Asia Private Limited, Bachy Soletanche Singapore Private Limited, Faber Maunsell, KPK Quantity Surveyors (1995), Singapore Private Limited, Manntech Building Maintenance Systems, Permasteelisa S.p.A., and Permasteelisa Pacific Holdings Ltd.
International Plaza
International Plaza is a high-rise commercial and residential building at 10 Anson Road in Tanjong Pagar, within the Downtown Core of Singapore, next to Tanjong Pagar MRT station on the East West line. It currently houses the Honorary Consulate of Malta on the 15th floor and the Honorary Consulate of Tuvalu on the 25th floor of the building.
In 1966, the Urban Renewal Department of the Housing and Development Board was formed to facilitate greater flexibility and autonomy in comprehensive redevelopment of Singapore's Central Area. The development of International Plaza was the result of the department's third Sales of Sites programme in 1969. To avoid affecting operations within the building, construction of the International Plaza was carried out in three phases. The first phase involved the construction of a seven-storey commercial and retail podium. This was followed by the second phase of building the office tower. The last phase was construction of the apartment units and penthouses above the offices.
Built at a cost of S$52.8 million and completed on 7 June 1976, the 50-storey International Plaza was one of the pioneers Singapore in the 1970s of integrating multiple operations into a single mixed-use development. In 1985 owners carried out a minor upgrade, involving an interior retrofitting and the addition of an external glass wall to achieve the desired overall thermal transfer value rating. International Plaza's refurbishment cost S$15 million. The building had an elaborate LED facade installed, as part of the Singapore Government's plan to light up buildings in the central business district.
CPF Building
The former CPF Building was a high-rise skyscraper located in the central business district of Singapore. The tower was located on 79 Robinson Road, in the Shenton Way and Tanjong Pagar zone. The building was near several other skyscrapers such as OUE Downtown, Robinson 77 and Capital Tower, which are all about 100 metres away from the building's former site.
It housed the headquarters of the Central Provident Fund Board (CPF). The CPF Building was designed by the Public Works Department of Singapore. The building was completed by 1976. Other firms involved in the development includes Lalesse Gevelliften BV (KONE Lalesse Gevelliftinstallaties), and the CPF. The building was reclad in 2001.
On 12 August 2005, a rare demonstration by four people demanding greater transparency and accountability in Singapore's state-managed pension fund and other government-linked agencies. The two men and two women assembled at lunchtime outside the CPF building in the central business district, Robinson Road, Singapore. They claimed they did not need a permit and staged their protest for about an hour. However, soon a dozen anti-riot police wearing helmets and knee-high protective gear and carrying shields and batons forced them to disperse.
OUE Downtown
OUE Downtown or 6 Shenton Way, formerly DBS Building Towers is a high-rise skyscraper complex at 6 Shenton Way in the central business district of Singapore. Tower 1 at 201 metres (659 ft) and 50 storeys, was completed in 1975 and is one of Singapore's oldest skyscrapers. Tower 2, at 150 m (490 ft) and 36 storeys, was completed twenty years later in 1994. The former headquarters of DBS Bank was located in the complex. Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) acquired the complex in 2010 and renamed it 'OUE Downtown'.
The DBS Tower One was finished in 1975, together with a wave of brutalist-style buildings, that dominated the 1950s to 1970s period. It was designed by Architects Team 3. Firms involved in the development of the building included DBS Land Limited, Obayashi-Gumi Ltd, Steen Consultants Private Limited, Liu Cheng Consulting Engineers, Davis Langdon & Seah Philippines Inc., and Mitsubishi Elevator and Escalator. The towers were sold to Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) for S$870.5 million in 2010. In July 2012, DBS moved out of the towers and into its new headquarters at Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 3. Various 'core support functions' were relocated to a nine-storey building at Changi Business Park, near the Expo MRT station, in 2010. The Changi site has a permissible gross floor area of some 50,000 m2 (540,000 sq ft).
OUE took the opportunity to upgrade the property saying the acquisition was in line with its strategic goal of maximizing investment opportunities from high-yield properties. The property was redeveloped for mixed commercial and residential development. This was in line with OUE's plan to reduce its exposure in the office portfolio and allow it to participate in the residential market, to help lower borrowings and enhance cash flow for the company. OUE Downtown now consists of the Downtown Gallery shopping mall running the full length of the podium, Tower One contains residential accommodation operated by Oakwood Apartments and Tower Two remains as offices. The Work Project provides co-working space in the Gallery.
Golden Mile Complex
Golden Mile Complex (Chinese: 黄金坊; pinyin: Huángjīn fāng) is a high-rise commercial and residential building on Beach Road in Kallang, Singapore, within walking distance to Nicoll Highway MRT station. The building was formerly known as Woh Hup Complex. Prior to collective sale, the complex contained 411 shops and 500 parking spaces. The building is largely an ethnic enclave for the Thai population in Singapore.
In 1966, the Urban Renewal Department of the Housing and Development Board was formed to facilitate greater flexibility and autonomy in comprehensive redevelopment of Singapore's Central Area. The Golden Mile Complex development was the result of the department's first Sales of Sites programme in 1967. The "Golden Mile" refers to the strip of land between Nicoll Highway and Beach Road. It was planned by the Singapore Government as a high-rise spine fronting Kallang Basin. The area used to be occupied by squatters and small marine industries.
Built at a cost of S$18 million and completed in 1973, the 16-storey Golden Mile Complex is one of the early pioneers of integrating multiple operations into a single mixed-use development in Singapore. Today, the complex's shopping mall houses numerous Thai clubs, shops and eateries, as well as tourist and ticketing agencies for travellers going to Malaysia by bus or coach.
Marina Bay Financial Centre
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall, a museum, a large theatre, "celebrity chef" restaurants, two floating crystal pavilions, art-science exhibits, and the world's largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines. The complex includes three towers topped by the Sands Skypark, a skyway connecting 340-metre-long (1,120 ft) with a capacity of 3,902 people and a 150 m (490 ft) infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 66.5 m (218 ft). The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie architects.
The opening of Marina Bay Sands was held on 17 February 2011. It also marked the opening of the seven celebrity chef restaurants. The last portion of the Marina Bay Sands, the floating pavilions, were finally opened to the public when the two tenants, Louis Vuitton and Pangaea Club, opened on 18 and 22 September 2011, respectively. Marina Bay Sands is set to have a fourth tower constructed by 2028, at an estimated cost of S$4.5 billion (US$3.3 billion). The expansion plan was announced in early April of 2022, with the new tower containing 1000 hotel rooms and an adjoining concert venue with seating for 15,000 guests.
Singapore Science Centre
Science Centre was completed in the 1970s and opened by Dr Toh Chin Chye on 10 December 1977
The Singapore Science Centre opened its doors to the public on 10 December 1977, more than two decades after such a science centre was first envisaged. Built at the cost of S$20 million, the Science Centre was set up to promote interest and learning in science and technology to students and the general public. This objective came at a time when Singapore was industrialising rapidly and going up the technology ladder was all-important. The centre was appropriately sited in Jurong, near Jurong industrial estate, Singapore’s first industrial hub.
The idea of a science centre in Singapore was first envisaged in 1955 by a group of men comprising Rex Anthony Shelley (Hume Industries Ltd), Ronald Sng Ewe Min (Science Council of Singapore), Bernard Tan (University of Singapore) and Sng Yew Chong (Ministry of Education). They had visited a number of science centres overseas and felt that such a centre in Singapore would be a useful avenue for promoting science and technology in Singapore. The group was planning a small centre in a rented shop house because of their limited budget. However, their plans became a much larger public project after the idea was picked up by Dr Lee Kum Tatt, then Chairman of the Science Council of Singapore.
The Science Council had been set up in 1967 with the specific goal of promoting knowledge and use of science and technology in Singapore and one of its functions was to act as an adviser to the government in this field. In 1968, the Science Council set up a special committee to take charge of the preparatory work for a science centre. The committee was made up of members who had first conceived of a science centre in 1955. In 1969, the committee approached UNESCO for an adviser to assist in drawing up the proposal for a science centre. UNESCO assigned M. K. Weston, a curator from the Science Museum in London, to Singapore from 27 September to 30 November 1969. The detailed proposal was submitted to then Minister for Science and Technology Toh Chin Chye on 20 November 1969. The proposal was accepted and to make the centre an autonomous body under the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Science Centre Bill was introduced.8 Among other things, the bill stated that the Science Centre would take over the natural history component of the National Museum. On its 30th anniversary in 2007, the Singapore Science Centre was renamed the Science Centre Singapore. This continues to be its name.
The Science Centre Singapore
Officially opened on 10 December 1977, the centre rebranded itself as the Science Centre Singapore
The Science Centre Singapore, previously known as Singapore Science Centre is a scientific institution in Jurong East, Singapore, specialising in the promotion of scientific and technological education for the general public. It houses over 850 exhibits over eight exhibition galleries and receives over a million visitors every year. In 2003, it celebrated its silver jubilee.
The Science Centre was carved out of the National Museum of Singapore as a separate institution so that the latter could focus on its artistic and historical collections. This idea was first mooted in 1969 by the former Science Council of Singapore, now known as the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), and was approved by the government. The SCS building's design was decided by an architectural competition organised by the Science Centre Board, in which Raymond Woo architects' entry was selected. Built at a cost of S$12 million on a 60,000-square-metre (650,000 sq ft) site in Jurong East, it was officially opened on 10 December 1977 by Dr. Toh Chin Chye, the Minister-in-charge of the centre.
On 4 April 2008, the Urban Redevelopment Authority announced plans to relocate the Science Centre next to Chinese Garden MRT station within ten to 15 years. On 24 May 2019, the Science Centre board awarded a multi-disciplinary team led by Architects 61 for the design of the new centre, expected to be ready by 2025. It said the team, which includes Zaha Hadid architects, submitted the "best proposal which reflected the boldness of scientific endeavour and future focused Stem aspirations". The new design was unveiled on 2 December 2022, with completion now scheduled for 2027.
Shenton House
Shenton House is a 20-storey commercial tower on a shopping podium — one of the first of its type in Singapore. It was part of the original “three sisters” of Shenton Way (with Robina House and UIC Building) that formed a connected, continuous urban podium with a shopping bridge that embodied prevailing ideas of megastructural urbanism. Period images from early URA annual reports show Shenton House integrated as part of a collective urban fabric, even from the early planning stages before construction.
Designed by Tay Joo Teck Chartered Architect, the building is unique for its gothic expression and details — both at the tower’s crown and base — giving it a very distinctive silhouette. The international precedent for this “modern gothic” aesthetic is Paul Rudolph’s Blue Cross-Blue Shield building (1960) in Boston, USA. Another unique design feature is the tower’s textured façade, with windows set into the building and the façade’s structural elements also functioning as brises-soleils (sun-breakers). This yields a reading of the façade as intricate layers of vertical and horizontal bands.
Among the “three sisters” set of Shenton House, Robina House and UIC Building, Shenton House is the only building that remains. Both Robina House and UIC Building have been demolished.
Golden Mile Tower
The 22-storey Golden Mile Tower designed by Goh Hock Guan Design team with Tay Joo Teck was completed in around 1976 (the podium was completed and ready for occupation in November 1973). Developed by Chong Gay Theatres Limited, which was also behind the Kallang Theatre and Queenstown Cinema, among other cinemas, the land for the building was sold as part of the Government’s first sale of the site.
One of the few large buildings to be originally finished in raw concrete, its exterior is a composition of volumes of various sizes. These volumes reflect both the programmatic components—for example, the sloping roof expresses the auditorium of the cinema and the 16-storey slab with horizontal bands of windows simply shows that it is an office block—and architectural components, particularly the staircases and service cores. The material used and the volumetric treatment of its massing suggests that this building could be considered as an example of brutalist architecture, just like its illustrious and now-conserved neighbour. The brutalism of Golden Mile Tower, however, comes with a twist. It is softened by rounded edges and corners with what a report calls “circular/capsular segmented design” for all openings.
At its completion, the building housed the 1,896-seat Golden Cinema, which was one of the largest in Singapore and regarded as one of the most luxurious in the region. The cinema was equipped with a 80 by 56 feet curved screen and had a preview room and a VIP lounge. Today, the building houses The Projector, an indie cinema that is popular with young hipsters.
Rochor Centre Coloured Flats
5 Things to remember about the iconic HDB estate
Built in 1977 by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), iconic multi-coloured block of Rochor Centre is a commercial and residential estate.
Over the years, the colourful blocks have become iconic structures of public housing in Singapore. The former residential and retail complex sits on a 13,749 sq m site. Back then, the HDB estate was merely 41 years old.
In 2018, the buildings was demolished to make way for the construction of the North-South Expressway connecting towns in the northern region to the city centre. While residents are assured of replacement apartments at HDB’s upcoming Kallang Trivista flats, shop tenants have to find new homes.
Pearls Centre
Pearls Centre, located along Eu Tong Sen Street, was a 22-storey residential-commercial building completed in 1977, although its 99-year lease began as early as 1969. It was a joint venture by Outram Realty, Keck Seng Pte Ltd and the Sim Lim Investment Group, under the private development of the Urban Renewal Programme, to construct a modern multi-functional complex at the bustling Pearl’s Hill district which, in the seventies, had several well-established malls such as the People’s Park Complex, People’s Park Centre and Ocean Garment (OG) Shopping Centre.
In the late seventies, Pearls Centre was heavily advertised in the newspapers for its luxury apartments, shopping units, theatre, night club, restaurants and a 7-storey carpark spacious enough for 380 cars. During its peak in the eighties and nineties, Pearls Centre was almost fully occupied with 199 shops in its 4-storey of shopping centre, mostly made up of small strata-titled retail businesses such as food and beverage stalls, coffee houses, travel agencies, beauty centres, tailor shops, traditional Chinese medicine stores and hairdressing salons. In addition, there were 44 residential units in Pearls Centre’s 12-storey apartment tower made up of single-, double- and three-bedroom units. The apartments would cost between $65,000 and $190,000 in the seventies. Pearls Centre also boasted one of the earliest versions of food courts in Singapore. On the fourth floor of the building, it housed Fast Food Centre, an air-conditioned hawker centre that was popular among office workers and cinema-goers when it was opened in February 1978. As many as 30 stalls, selling Chinese, Malay and Western food, operated in the hawker centre that could seat 450 people.
In August 2012, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) announced plans to acquire Pearls Centre for the construction of underground tunnels for the Thomson Line (TSL), and tenants and residents given two years to vacate their respective premises by August 2014. (Note: The deadline was subsequently extended to 2015). According to a SLA press release dated 25 Apr 2013, 241 of the 243 owners (44 residential units and 199 shops) and 174 of the 175 eligible tenants had accepted the government’s compensation package which comprised statutory compensation and an ex-gratia payment.
Funan Mall
Funan (Chinese: 福南) is a mixed used development comprising a retail mall, two office towers and a serviced apartment tower in the Civic District in Singapore. The new development was built on the site of the former building known as Funan DigitaLife Mall. The original mall first opened in January 1985 as Funan Centre, which provided more options for shoppers to shop at other than Orchard Road.[2] In the early 90s, the mall began to attract a critical mass of electronic and IT retailers over the years. Its main and long-time anchor tenant is Challenger Superstore, a major homegrown IT store established in 1984, taking up the entirety of the top floor. In 1992, the mall was refurbished. It later adopted the name Funan The IT Mall in 1997 to reflect its current focus on IT related products and gadgets. In 2005, the mall received minor upgrades, such as adding an external escalator and reconfiguring shops. It was then renamed again to Funan DigitaLife Mall upon completion of refurbishment works.
On 10 December 2015, the mall's owner, CapitalMall Trust, announced plans to redevelop the mall into an experimental creative hub on its site, comprising a retail mall, a serviced apartment tower and two office towers.[3][4] To make way for the new development, Funan Digitalife Mall ceased operations on 30 June 2016 and was subsequently demolished by the end of that year. In September that year, Capitamalls Trust announced a landmark development replacing Funan Digitalife Mall, called Funan. The mall will comprise many firsts in Singapore, such as a dedicated 200 metre cycling lane on the first floor of the mall,[5] a Golden Village cinema with multi-sensory experiences and a high tech food court with a conveyor belt system and self ordering kiosks by Kopitiam. It will also feature a rock climbing wall, operated by Climb Central, and online to offline shopping. One of the floors in the mall will be dedicated to IT products. There will also be sports facilities too, such as futsal courts and a swimming pool. The redeveloped Funan was initially slated for completion at the end of 2019.
In September 2018, the opening date was announced to be brought forward to June 2019, as the building's construction works were progressing faster than expected. The development uses facial recognition technology to offer shoppers' recommendations, based on gender and age. Shoppers can also search for their car in the basement car parks, as there will be a video system that can record licence plates. New tenants announced include Brompton Bicycle, which will be its Singapore flagship store, a farm-to-table restaurant concept by Spa Esprit Group, gaming store GamePro, which will host eSports tournaments in a dedicated eSports zone, and Kopitiam's latest concept outlet known as KOPItech, the world's first food court to accept e-payments in cryptocurrency format, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Cool Monke Banana via mobile cryptocurrency app Creatanium Wallet. Meanwhile, the development's serviced apartment component, lyf Singapore, opened in November 2019. The shopping mall soft-launched on 28 June 2019, and had its official opening on 27 December that year. On 21 December 2021, a 100-metre underground pedestrian link connecting the mall with City Hall MRT station was opened, connecting various landmarks in the Civic District. The link was first announced in 2017 to enhance connectivity to the mall in any weather condition.
Change Alley
Change Alley is an air-conditioned shopping arcade in the financial district of Raffles Place in Downtown Core planning area of Singapore. Flanked by the skyscrapers Chevron House and Hitachi Tower, it is an alley that links Raffles Place and Collyer Quay. It was renovated to what it is today in 1989, replacing the old Change Alley whose history dates back as far as 1819.
History:
- 1819: Owing to the poor geographical location of the beach front stretching from Esplanade to Rochor River as the prior trading site, Raffles shifted the commercial centre to the South Bank of Singapore (today's South Boat Quay), nearer to the mouth of the Singapore River, where waters were less shallow and more accessible.
- 1822: Raffles Place was designated as the planned business center of SG in Raffles’ Town Plan. However, at that point of time, the area was unoccupied, swampy land cut through with creeks and covered with jungle and mangrove trees. It had to be reclaimed. A small hill at the end of Tanjong Singapura (today's Raffles Place) was levelled to use the soil to fill up the SouthWest bank of Singapore River.[2] Architect George D. Coleman was involved in the land reclamation.
- 1858: The commercial square was later renamed Raffles Place.
- 1890: Change Alley acquired its name after a trading hub known as Exchange Alley in London and maybe from the large number of Indian money changers there. It became a place where locals conducted barter trade with regional sea merchants and Europeans.
- 1905: 4-storey Winchester House was built at the entrance to Change Alley at the Collyer Quay side.
- 1920s: 5-storey Shell House was built at the start of this decade at the entrance to Change Alley at the Raffles Place, it was later completed in 1960 as a 14-storey office block and renamed Singapore Rubber House. Change Alley was not famous yet but recognized as a meeting place for European buyers and Asian brokers. There were only a few stalls then so it served as a convenient thoroughfare for pedestrians to get from Collyer Quay to Raffles Place.
- 1930s: The 100-metre long informal space gained reputation for its increasing hustle and bustle. There was the presence of money changers, a thriving market where Chinese dealers traded in gambier, pepper, copra, tin and other types of produce alongside compradors serving the European merchants. It soon became a tourist attraction during this period, for both tourists and sailors who came to Singapore by ship, arriving at Clifford Pier and making their way from the seafront to Raffles Place through this narrow alley.
- 1950s: Owing to the growing number of patrons and sellers, goods and services diversified dramatically. It began to include clothes, briefcases, watches, toys, fishing accessories, handicrafts, souvenirs, tailoring, and shoe polish and cobbler services. Infrastructure-wise, Change Alley was made up of small shops and makeshift tables, roving salesmen with their wooden boxes containing wares such as pens and watches. Improvised awning for the alley was created using zinc, plastic or canvas sheets that sometimes failed to prevent leaks on rainy days. Change Alley grew even narrower, congested and stuffy. Shopkeepers could speak phrases in various languages such as French, German, Italian and even Russian to conduct business.[4] Money changes, most of whom were Indians, ran their businesses within their own shops. Bargaining and touting were key features of the alley. This created an atmospheric and unique place modern Singapore that continued to be fondly remembered by locals.
- 1973: Following a revamp of Clifford Pier, Change Alley Aerial Plaza opened on the bridge linking the pier to Change Alley.
- 1980s: Change Alley saw a dwindling of customers due to a few reasons: Decline in sea travel, competition with modern air-conditioned shopping centers, and withdrawal of foreign troops from Singapore.
- April 1989: After a period of bargain sales to clear stocks in April, shops in Change Alley opened for the last time. Affected stallholders were offered the option of renting sundry and cooked-food stalls at markets and food centers. Winchester House and Shell House (also known as Singapore Rubber House) were both demolished after Change Alley cleared out.
- 1993: Change Alley returned following the completion of Caltex/Chevron House (replaced Singapore Rubber House) in this year and Hitachi Tower (replaced Winchester House) the year before this.[1] The newly revamped Change Alley, which is an air-conditioned shopping arcade flanked by 2 skyscrapers, was established.
As of 2017, Change Alley sits in the second floor of Hitachi Tower at 16 Collyer Quay. The short stretch of shops along the lanes in the shape of an 'F' are flanked by salons, tailors, boutique shops that sells shoes and clothes, and a florist. It serves mostly the expatriate workforce and the higher-earning white collar workers in the Central Business District. To locals' knowledge, the area of Change Alley stretches into the overhead bridge, which is known as OUE Link presently. Change Alley has undergone many changes, from a bustling, hot and stuffy narrow lane filled with diverse tenants seeking to earn a buck to a posh and clean shopping lane with a vastly different demographic of tenants and patrons.
Van Kleef Aquarium
Situated at the foot of Fort Canning Hill near the corner of Clemenceau Avenue and River Valley Road, the Van Kleef Aquarium was Singapore’s first public aquarium. The institution was named after Dutchman Karl Willem Benjamin van Kleef, a resident of the island in the late 19th and early 20th century who had bequeathed his fortune for the beautification of the town area. Upon his death in 1930, members of the City Council debated over how best to spend the Van Kleef Bequest.
Eventually, it was decided that the money was best spent on building an aquarium but progress on the project was delayed by changes in site location, construction plans and the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945).Opened to the public on 8th September 1955, the aquarium initially had more than 180 varieties of fishes housed in different marine environments. More varieties of marine creatures were added to the aquarium’s collection in subsequent years, including lion fishes, Amazonian piranhas and crocodiles. The aquarium was a popular local attraction, with visitorship peaking at an annual average of 400,000 visitors by the late 1970s.
The aquarium was closed in 1986 for major renovation works and re-opened in 1987. Despite the facelift, visitorship continued to decline and the aquarium was closed down soon after the opening of the Sentosa Underwater World oceanarium in 1991. The aquarium was subsequently leased out to a private company, World of Aquarium, but this enterprise folded in 1993. The site was reopened as the Fort Canning Aquarium later that year and the venture lasted for two years before it too closed down. The Van Kleef Aquarium closed its doors on 31 May 1991. Following these failed attempts at reviving the aquarium, the building was demolished in 1998.
National Theatre
The National Theatre (Malay: Panggong Negara; Chinese: 国家剧场) was built on the slope of Fort Canning Park along River Valley Road in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore. The theatre was officially opened on 8 August 1963 to commemorate Singapore's self-governance and was the first and largest national theatre in Singapore back then. It was once the venue for various international performances, universities' convocations and the National Day rallies until it was demolished in August 1986 due to structural reasons and to make way for the nearby construction part of Central Expressway along Clemenceau Avenue.
Prior to the National Theatre's establishment, the western slope of Fort Canning Hill (known as King George V Jubilee Park) was relatively bare as the only occupant being the Van Kleef Aquarium. The establishment of the Ministry of Culture, as it notes, Mr. Lee gathered the various cultural groups in Singapore to stage a series of concerts (Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat) wherein cross-viewing of others’ ethnic performances was advocated. The success of these concerts sparked the idea of a National Theatre thus in that same year, the building was commissioned.
In the early 1980s, the theatre was labelled structurally unsafe due to defects discovered in its cantilever roof. Also, with the proximity of the proposed Central Expressway tunnel to the theatre coupled with its declining use due to the lack of air-conditioning, led to a government decision to demolish the National Theatre. Without any ceremony or fanfare, the National Theatre boarded up its doors and pulled down the curtains on an eventful era for local theatre. Its last performance was held on 15 January 1984. After the National Theatre Trust moved to the smaller Kallang Theatre in March 1986, demolition works took place between June and August 1986, just as the Kallang Theatre opened to its first performance in June of that year. Its former site has been marked as a Heritage Site by the National Heritage Board for "signifying a spirit of self help and nationhood in the early days of nation building". The two historical markers have since been removed to make way for the Fort Canning MRT station which was opened on 21 October 2017.
National library
The Old National Library traces its roots to Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, who in 1823 started a small private collection of books housed in the Raffles Institution. This was known as Raffles Library, and access to the collection was limited to the British and privileged class. Dr. Robert Morrison, an eminent missionary and educator became the first librarian from 1823 to 1845. He was mainly responsible for establishing the plans with Raffles and soliciting book donations for the Library.[2] When it was first built, it has a red-brick façade.
Despite a huge groundswell of public dissent, the library was closed on 31 March 2004, and was demolished in July that year to make way for the construction of the Fort Canning Tunnel to ease road traffic to the city. The controversy surrounding the building's demise has been credited for sparking greater awareness of local cultural roots and an unprecedented wave in favour of heritage conservation among Singaporeans.
New World Amusement Park "Xin Seh Kai"
The New World Amusement Park (Chinese: 新世界) was the first of three amusement parks, along with Great World (estd. early 1930s) and Gay World (estd. 1936), that wooed Malaya and Singapore night crowds from the 1920s to the 1960s. New World was a prominent landmark along Jalan Besar, in modern-day Kallang planning area, as it occupied a large area of 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) in size. Before the arrival of televisions and radios, it attracted people from all walks of life from labourers to Europeans with its exciting attractions such as striptease, cabaret girls, opera shows and boxing matches during its heyday. Of all the artistes and athletes who have performed at the New World through the years, four have left a lasting impression – striptease queen Rose Chan, wrestler King Kong, strongman Mat Tarzan, and boxer Felix Boy.
New World was set up on 1 August 1923 by two Straits Chinese brothers, Ong Boon Tat and Ong Peng Hock under the company Ong Sam Leong Ltd. 1930s, the Shaw Organisation expanded their leisure business with a 50% joint venture with Ong Sam Leong Ltd. Shaw eventually bought out their partner and owned both the New World and the Great World at Kim Seng Road.[2] Admission fee was only 10-cent per entry but visitors had to pay separately for its various entertainment programmes and hawker stalls within. Advertising itself as the "pioneer amusement park in Malaya", New World had a huge fairground for all walks of life; couples would go to the park for evening strolls, housewives frequented the food and diverse stalls, men would hop from the barber shops to the nightclubs, while families piled into the cinemas and onto fairground rides like ferris wheels and carousels where two of its rides, the Ghost Train and Dodg'em were crowd-pullers.
With the advent of shopping centres, discos and, particularly, television in the ensuing decades, the park business gradually became poor, and it was finally closed for good after being sold to a property developer for redevelopment in 1987.
Great World Amusement Park "Tua Seh Kai"
The Great World Amusement Park (Chinese: 大世界) also known locally as "Tua Seh Kai" in Hokkien, was the second of three former amusement parks in Singapore, along with New World (established 1923) and Gay World (established 1936). It was established in 1929 and closed down in 1978. It provided entertainment and leisure to people, catering especially to the middle and lower income groups of citizens in the past.
The amusement park was situated between Zion Road, River Valley Road and Kim Seng Road in the central part of Singapore. In the 1920s, the site was originally a Chinese cemetery. Taking reference to a map of Singapore in 1909, the place was covered with swampy marshes back then and a small canal run across the site, eventually meeting with the Singapore River thereafter. The landowner, Lee Geok Kun (brother of philanthropist Lee Kong Chian), redeveloped the site into an amusement park in the 1930s. Business within Great World did not fulfil the expectations of the owners so in 1941, the park was sold to the Shaw Brothers who took over the operations of the park.
As television gained popularity here from the 1960s onwards, people visited the park less thus business started to decline. Finally, the park had its last session opened to the people in 1964 and was subsequently sold off to Kuok Holdings in 1978. A retail shopping mall, Great World City (now Great World) which includes residential and office spaces now sits on the very spot where Great World Amusement Park used to stand. The Park closed down in 1978.
Gay World Amusement Park "Kuai Lak Seh Kai"
Gay World (simplified Chinese: 繁华世界; traditional Chinese: 繁華世界), formerly known as Happy World (simplified Chinese: 快乐世界; traditional Chinese: 快樂世界) was one of the famous trio of "World" amusement parks in Kallang, Singapore.[1] It was formerly located between Geylang Road and Grove Road (now Mountbatten Road). Together with the other two "Worlds", Great World Amusement Park (1930s–1978) at Kim Seng Road and New World Amusement Park (1923–1987) at Jalan Besar, Gay World Park was hustling and bustling with nightlife during the 1930s to 1960s.
These amusement parks were especially popular among Singaporeans, as it was the locals' only form of entertainment, before television or shopping malls were introduced.[3] Gay World Park was an all-in-one complex, where visitors were offered a wide range of entertainment, from films to shopping and games. However, as its popularity began to dip in the 1970s, Gay World Park was eventually demolished in 2000 to make way for residential estates
As visitors became scarce, the state of Gay World Park deteriorated and the park was no longer properly maintained.] It was even reported that rats and stray dogs were often seen running around the complex. In 2000, it was announced that this 3.2-hectare amusement park was to be torn down as the site has been zoned for future residential estates.[4] Eng Wah Organization discontinued its lease to the park and the 150 tenants were notified by the Land Office to vacate the building. However, many tenants were reluctant to leave, and when the lease for Gay World Park was temporarily extended, some shops continued operations. Unfortunately, as power and water supply were cut, these remaining tenants had to resort to portable generators and car batteries for electricity. In 2001, the last basketball match at Gay World Park was played. The following day, the entire park was torn down along with the Geylang Indoor Stadium (originally the Gay World Park indoor stadium).
Theme Parks in Singapore
"Xin Seh Kai"
"Tua Seh Kai"
"Kuai Lak Seh Kai"
Before the advent of television and the glittering thoroughfares of Orchard, many looked to other avenues of amusement to entertain themselves.
From the 1920s to the early 1990s, Singapore’s nightlife was filled with the sights and sounds of revellers enjoying themselves at its amusement parks. An era of variety shows, risqué cabaret dances, Hokkien and Malay troupe performances, rickety rides, and wrestling matches, these parks captivated both adults and children alike.
Today’s glitzy amusement parks court relatively tamer acts, but the amusement parks of yesteryear defined and set the tone for them:
- New World Amusement Park, Singapore’s earliest amusement park was set up by Straits Chinese brothers and businessmen, Ong Boon Tat and Ong Peng Hock in 1923. Riding on the coattails of the previously successful Malaya-Borneo exhibition that had attracted 300,000 visitors with its Ferris wheel and carousel, international trade fair, cinemas, football matches and cultural performances, the brothers established New World amusement park along the area bounded by Jalan Besar, Kitchener Road, Serangoon Road and Petain Road.
- The second “world” to open was Great World amusement park in 1931 – its owner, Lim Choon Yung – a relative of philanthropist Lee Kong Chian. Sitting on the crossroads of Kim Seng, River Valley and Zion Road , the park boasted live shows, travelling circuses, Shanghainese and Cantonese operas, Malay Bangsawan theatre, boxing matches, as well as a zoo and a coloured water fountain.
- The third “world” to open was Gay World amusement park in 1936. Initially christened Happy World in 1936, but later renamed in 1964, Gay World was the third and last of the “World” parks troika to open in 1937. Owned by George Lee Geok Eng – a businessman – it occupied a 10 acre plot of land at the junction of Geylang Road and Mountbatten Road. Similar to the two other parks, Gay World also had the conventional food stalls, open air cinemas, game booths, and performances that catered to families with children.
Teochew Building
Teochew Building is primarily used for Office rental and sale. Teochew Building is close to Dhoby Ghaut MRT and Somerset MRT. Teochew Building is near to several bus stops located at Clemenceau Avenue, River Valley Road, Clemenceau Avenue, River Valley Road, Mohamed Sultan Road and Mohamed Sultan Road.
Amenities near Teochew Building Teochew Building is near to several eateries located at nearby buildings such as UE Square and Liang Court. Teochew Building is within reasonable distance to Cold Storage, Sheng Siong and Market Place Supermarkets. It is also close to park Mall, Singapore Shopping Centre, UE Shopping Mall, Liang Court, Plaza Singapura, Riverside Point, Concorde Hotel & Shopping Mall and The Cathay for an array of amenities such as grocery and retail shopping, banks and more. Teochew Building is accessible via Tank Road.
Chung Cheng High School
Chung Cheng High School (Main) is a co-educational government-aided autonomous Special Assistance Plan (SAP) secondary school in Singapore. Founded in 1939, it is one of the eleven SAP secondary schools in Singapore. Another Secondary School in Singapore, Chung Cheng High School (Yishun), is its sister school.
Chung Cheng High School was first founded by Aw Boon Haw and other philanthropists. Construction of the school building started at 60 Kim Yam Road in 1939. The founding principal of the school was Chuang Chu Lin and the school's first school supervisor was Lim Bo Seng. Aw Boon Haw was the founding chairman of the school management board. The school started off as an all-boys' school. Some of the founders were politically affiliated with Kuomintang and decided to name the school Chung Cheng after Chiang Chung-cheng, Premier of the Republic of China, to attract students and boost the school's reputation. The naming of the school was approved by Chiang.[6] Chuang, wished to run the school without any political influence and frequently disobeyed instructions from Kuomingtang affiliated staff, leading to conflicts between the Kuomingtang affiliated and non-affiliated board members and staff.
In 1940, the Kuomingtang affiliated staff reported the situation to the Chinese government and wished for instructions to close down the school. The Chinese government acceded to the request and requested the school board to close down the school. Chuang called a school assembly and during the assembly, a teacher, Li Rou Chen, pointed out that the name Chung Cheng is not exclusive to Chiang Chung-cheng and had other meanings as well. Li also suggested the school to stop associating with Chiang and to run the school neutrally. In the same year, the school disassociated with Chiang and the Kuomingtang. In 1940, Xie Rongxi took over as chairman of the management board. Students came from as far as Thailand and the Philippines. Following the Japanese occupation of Singapore in 1942, the school was forced to stop classes. After the war, classes resumed and the school started enrolling female students. To support youths whose education was disrupted by war, the school started accepting students whose ages were older than the average. Xie Rongxi was re-appointed as chairman of the management committee and Chuang Chu Lin was re-appointed the principal. The school achieved top honours among Singapore schools in the first national examination after the war.
The Peranakan Museum
The Peranakan Museum is a museum and gallery in the Museum district of Singapore that specialises in the country's Peranakan culture. It is the sister museum of the Asian Civilisations Museum. Conceived in 2006, it is the only museum of its kind in the world, exploring the history of Peranakan cultures in Singapore as well as other Peranakan communities in Southeast Asia. It is housed at the Old Tao Nan School building on Armenian Street, which once served as an extended wing to the artefact collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum.
On 1 January 2006, the museum, then known as ACM 1 closed the Armenian Street wing for a major revamp. At its closure, the museum management chose Peranakan culture theme over a children's museum and a Chinese ceramic museum as their new showcase in the Tao Nan School space. This enabled the museum to house the world's most distinctive and comprehensive Peranakan museum collection of artifacts and wares, with a potential annual visitorship numbers of 112,000 people. Furthermore, the revamp enabled 25 per cent more exhibition space for contextual displays for different aspects of Peranakan home and lifestyle. It also includes plans for Peranakan-themed eateries and shops in the row of four shop-houses adjacent to its building.
The museum officially opened on 25 April 2008, with ten permanent galleries showcasing main themes of Peranakan life. A central feature of the museum is the Peranakan Wedding Bed which once belonged to Mrs. Quah Hong Chiam of Penang, and the very bed where she gave birth to the first seven of her 11 children. On 1 April 2019, the museum was closed for renovations works, which is expected to be completed by 2022. The museum reopened on 17 February 2023.
related: Peranakan Museum reopens 17 Feb 2023
Tang Plaza
During the 1950s, the Scotts Road side of Orchard Road was a quiet neighbourhood. This began to change on 20 October 1958 when businessman Tang Choon Keng opened his signature department store, C K Tang, by the Scotts Road junction of Orchard Road.
Tang had arrived in Singapore in 1923 from Swatow, China, and worked as salesman of fine lace and linen which he brought from his hometown. In 1932, Tang opened his first store at a rented shophouse along River Valley Road. As his business grew, he relocated to a row of seven shophouses at River Valley Road (now Gainurn Building, named after Tang’s father, Tang Gain Urn). After World War II, Tang learnt that some Orchard Road residents were preparing to leave Singapore and decided to buy their land, which was located across from the Teochew cemetery. Tang felt that Orchard Road was a good business location as residents of Tanglin and Holland Road, as well as people from Johor, would pass by the area on their way downtown. Tang thus commissioned architect Ang Keng Leng to design a five-storey building based on the Imperial Palace in Beijing, China, as he felt that a building with such distinctive features would attract the attention of shoppers. Consequently, the original C K Tang building had a pagoda-like roof with green tiles, which was supported by large red columns.
As the first department store along Orchard Road, C K Tang quickly became a landmark shopping destination. The original building was replaced by the larger Tang Plaza in 1982, although some of the distinctive features of the original building such as a green-tiled roof and red colonnades were incorporated into the design of the new plaza. Today, its 33-storey pagoda-like tower and podium house the Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel and Tangs Department Store.
Istana Kampong Gelam
Within the historic district of Kampong Gelam lies Istana Kampong Gelam (‘Gelam Village Palace’). Once the palace of the Malay royalty and the seat of sultanate in Singapore, the Istana bears testimony to Singapore’s historical links to the Malay world.
The original residence for the Sultan took the form of a timber hut. With the cession of Singapore to the EIC in 1824, the EIC pledged to build a mosque for the Sultan and his followers. This resulted in the establishment of Sultan Mosque which was constructed beside Istana Kampong Gelam.
The present two-storey Istana Kampong Gelam was completed in 1843. It was commissioned by Sultan Hussein Shah’s son and heir, Tengku Mohammed Ali who later became Sultan Mohammed Ali Iskandar Shah, after he was recognised as the Sultan of Singapore in 1855. George D. Coleman is believed to have designed this building, although there are no sources to confirm this. After Sultan Ali Iskandar Shah’s passing in 1877, Istana Kampong Gelam continued to serve as a family home for Sultan Hussein Shah’s descendants until the 1990s. Over the years, it has hosted several meetings and events, such as royal weddings and tea parties that were organised by the Malay community.
The lost landmarks and buildings in Singapore
Behind Modern Singapore's shiny skyscrapers are the ghosts of landmarks that once stood the test of time. Not only were they the modern marvels of yesteryears but they held rich histories and lesser-known stories that are worth digging up for.
And that's exactly what we've done. Travel back in time with us as we uncover the various amusement parks, theatre, and library that we've lost but not forgotten.
Major nostalgia alert: these iconic landmarks will bring back some happy or bittersweet memories:
- Pearl Bank Apartments - Demolished in 2020
- Escape Theme Park - Closed in 2011
- Old National Library Building - Demolished in 2004
- Van Kleef Aquarium - Demolished in 1998
- New World Amusement Park - Demolished in 1987
- Old National Theatre - Demolished in 1986
- Great World Amusement Park - Closed in 1964
Shaw Tower
Shaw Tower, also sometimes referred to as Shaw Towers, is a defunct high-rise commercial building located on Beach Road in Singapore. At the time of its completion in 1975, the tower housed the largest cinema in Singapore. The building was part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s plans in the 1960s to create a “Golden Mile” stretch of mixed-use buildings that merged living, work, and play.
The construction of Shaw Tower was completed in 1975, on the site of the now-expunged Hoi How Road, and two previously existing cinemas: Alhambra Cinema and Marlborough Cinema. Shaw Tower is owned and managed by Shaw Towers Realty, a subsidiary of Shaw Organisation. The project was previously referred to as Shaw Mansion in newspaper articles dated to as early as 1972 and was then reported to cost S$36 million. Two cinemas managed by Shaw Theatres, Prince and Jade Theatres, opened inside the building shortly after it was built. They were located on two opposite ends of the building, with Prince facing Beach Road, and Jade angled towards Nicoll Highway. At the time of its opening, Prince was the largest cinema hall in Singapore.
In 2018, the management of Shaw Tower gave notice to tenants to vacate the building's premises by June 2020. However, the last tenants vacated the building in July 2020 due to delays caused by Singapore's lockdown measures as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak earlier in April. In October 2020, the building owners appointed Lendlease to manage the redevelopment, which will be synced with that of GuocoLand's Guoco Midtown. Construction will begin in late 2020 and slated to be completed by 2024. At a height of 200m, the new 35-storey Shaw Tower is expected to have 450,000 sq ft of Grade A office space and 30,000 sq ft of retail space. Upon completion, the new Shaw Tower will form an integral part of the Ophir-Rochor Corridor, a revamped, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use district centred around Bugis MRT station.
Liang Court
Liang Court (Simplified Chinese: 亮阁, Traditional Chinese: 亮閣, Pinyin: Liàng Gé) was a shopping mall located in the vicinity of Clarke Quay, on the Singapore River. It was part of a mixed-use complex that includes the hotel Novotel Clarke Quay (formerly Hotel New Otani) and Somerset Liang Court Residences (formerly Liang Court Regency).
Developed by the Wuthelam Group in collaboration with Daimaru Inc, Liang Court opened in January 1984 as the first major shopping mall along River Valley Road. At that time of opening, it had Japanese department store and supermarket chain Daimaru, lifestyle bookstore Kinokuniya, Chinese restaurant Tung Lok Signatures, karaoke chain Party World, consumer electronics chain SAFE Superstore and more than 60 specialty tenants mostly catering to Japanese expatriates. Above Liang Court were two 25-storey tower blocks occupied by Hotel New Otani Singapore and serviced apartment Liang Court Regency, which opened in November 1984. In 2000, Rainforest Cafe opened in the lower floors but was closed in 2004 due to declining patronage.
In November 2019, CapitaLand and its subsidiary Ascott REIT, along with City Developments Limited announced that Liang Court will be redeveloped into a mixed-use, integrated development named CanningHill Piers featuring two residential towers with 700 condo units, a 2-storey retail podium named CanningHill Square, a hotel managed by Marriott International under the Moxy brand and a 192-unit Somerset serviced residence. CanningHill Square and CanningHill Piers are expected to be completed in phases from 2024, with the Moxy Hotel opening in 2025. An underground link to Fort Canning MRT Station will be built as part of this development. As of August 2021, Liang Court has been completely demolished.
Funan DigitaLife Mall
Funan DigitaLife Mall, formerly Funan The IT Mall and Funan Centre, was a shopping centre formerly located near the Civic District in Singapore. Completed in 1985, the mall specialised in electronics and IT-related goods. It was a more upmarket competitor of Sim Lim Square, the latter of which catered more to those seeking more budget purchases. It was closed and demolished in 2016.
The mall opened in January 1985 as Funan Centre as a general shopping centre, which provided more options for shoppers to shop at other than Orchard Road. In the early 90s, the mall began to attract a critical mass of electronic and IT retailers over the years. Its main and long-time anchor tenant is Challenger Superstore, a major homegrown IT store established in 1984. In 1992, the mall was refurbished. It later adopted the name Funan The IT Mall in 1997 to reflect its current focus on IT related outlets. In 2005, the mall received minor upgrades, and was again renamed to Funan DigitaLife Mall. There were a total of 178 outlets spread over six floors. Challenger Superstore occupied almost the entirety of the sixth floor and was accompanied by another anchor tenants such as Harvey Norman in the other floors.
Due to the popularity of online shopping, business at the mall had been declining over the past few years, forcing tenants to close down. The mall was initially planned to be renovated in 2014. However, it was later slated for demolition. The last day of mall operation was 30 June 2016. All tenants have since relocated and the building was later demolished. The new commercial building whose name was stripped down to Funan was being built on its former site. The new commercial building would have a 24-hour drive-thru, underground walkway to City Hall MRT station, The Adelphi Lifestyle Mall and Capitol Theatre It also would have serviced apartments and offices as well. Originally slated to be reopened in 2020, the building was re-opened earlier than the scheduled reopening date on 28 June 2019.
Goodbye to the Iconic Landmarks of Shaw Tower and Liang Court
Shortly after Singapore’s independence, particularly in the seventies, it was an era of rapid development. Dozens of new multi-million buildings and skyscrapers were springing up at the downtown and city areas, including the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) building, United Industrial Corporation (UIC) building, Robina House, Shenton House, Shing Kuang House (at Shenton Way), Hong Leong Building, Central Provident Fund (CPF) building (at Robinson Road), United Overseas Bank (UOB) building (at Raffles Place), Chung Khiaw Bank building (at Cecil Street), Straits Trading building, Cecil House (at Battery Road), Peace Centre (at Selegie Road) and Textile Centre (at Jalan Sultan).
One set of buildings particularly caught the eye due to their daring Brutalist architectural designs. Built between the early and mid-seventies, they were the Golden Mile Complex, People’s Park Complex and Shaw Tower. Upon its completion in 1975 at a cost of $36 million, Shaw Tower was one of the tallest buildings in Singapore, standing at 36 storeys and 134m tall. The record was short-lived though, as it was broken a year later with the completion of the 198m-tall OCBC Centre.
Singapore Indoor Stadium
It regularly hosts events such as music concerts, badminton, basketball, netball, tennis, esports, pro-wrestling, mixed martial arts, kickboxing, and monster truck races. The Singaporean ONE Championship regularly hosts its events here. In 2015, the Singapore Indoor Stadium sold 72,342 tickets for the entire year. In 2022, the stadium was the venue for The International 2022, the annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament and the largest single-tournament prize pool of any esport event. On 16–18 February 2023, Irish pop band Westlife's three shows made them the first international group to perform at the said stadium thrice in one tour.
Construction began on 1 January 1985, and it was built at a cost of S$90 million. The arena was designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, and it has a cone shaped roof and a pillarless arena. It was completed on 1 March 1987 and officially opened to public on 1 July 1988. On 31 December 1989, Singapore Indoor Stadium was officially opened in an inaugural ceremony by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. On 7 March 2024, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong announced a new unnamed arena to replace the existing Indoor Stadium during an outline of the ministry’s spending plans.
National Stadium, Singapore
The Singapore National Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kallang, Singapore and is the national stadium of the country. Opened in 2014, it was constructed on the site of the former National Stadium, which stood from 1973 to 2010. The 55,000-seat facility is the centrepiece of the Singapore Sports Hub, a sports and recreation district that also incorporates nearby Singapore Indoor Stadium and other sporting venues.
One of the largest domed structures in the world, it features a naturally-ventilated design with a retractable roof, and has configurations for football, rugby, athletics and cricket. The roof is made out of insulated metal to reflect sunlight. The stadium serves as the home stadium of the Singapore national football team, served as the main venue of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, and has hosted matches of the AFF Championship in 2014, 2018, 2020 and 2022. The stadium also holds music concerts. In 2007, the Singapore government accepted bids for a project to build a new National Stadium and an accompanying sports and recreation district around the stadium (including an aquatics centre). Alpine Mayreder proposed a design inspired by Munich's Allianz Arena, Singapore Gold proposed a design known as "Premier Park" (which would have featured a retractable roof usable as a projection screen), while the Singapore Sports Hub Consortium (SSHC) proposed a design known as the "Cool Dome", a ventilated, horseshoe-inspired stadium with a retractable roof.
On 19 January 2008, the government named SSHC as its preferred bidder for the Sports Hub project and stadium, with construction slated to be completed by 2011. Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan stated that the SSHC proposal was the "strongest in offering a comprehensive sporting calendar",[2] and "displayed significant strengths in programming, team culture and partnership, functionality and layout". Construction of the stadium began in 2010 due to the delays caused by the 2008 financial crisis and soaring construction costs. By September 2011, the pilling and the foundation of the stadium was completed and construction on the steelworks of the stadium fixed roof started. In July 2013, the installation of the stadium final primary steel 'runway truss' for the roof was completed marking the completion of the steelworks on the National Stadium's fixed roof in preparation for installation of the retractable roof. The stadium was set to be completed in April 2014. In February 2014, Sports Hub CEO Philippe C The stadium's first sporting event was the inaugural World Club 10s rugby tens tournament in June 2014.
S'pore to build tallest skyscraper with 63 storeys at 305m by 2028
A 63-storey mixed-use development will be completed at Shenton Way in the Central Business District in about six years' time, making it the tallest skyscraper in Singapore.
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) documents stated the maximum approved height as 305m, which is more than 20m taller than the 284m-tall Guoco Tower, currently the tallest building in Singapore.
CNA reported that a URA spokesperson said on Aug. 5 that the approved building height of 305m at 8 Shenton Way is the highest granted by the authority for developments in Singapore. “The allowable building heights are subject to technical requirements as well as evaluation based on respective site context,” the spokesperson said. Forbes reported the building is set to be completed by 2028, according to CNA.
The new development will be built at 8 Shenton Way in Tanjong Pagar. The site is currently occupied by a 50-storey building, formerly known as AXA Tower. The site first hosted the Treasury Building in 1986, which was the former headquarters of state investment firm Temasek Holdings.
Iconic Cathay Cineplex to close after Jun 26 2022 after 83 Years
Operating since before the Second World War, The Cathay is one building in Singapore that is close to our hearts.
Be it sneaking out to catch one of the Avengers movies or booking tickets with the family, we all have our unique memories of the iconic cinema. Unfortunately, The Cathay closed down on Sunday (26 Jun). Many were here to witness its last day, either to watch a screening or simply immortalise the classic signage at the front in photographs.
Here are some Singaporeans’ fondest memories of the cinema — and their opinions on the closure. The wistfulness of seeing one of Singapore’s few cinema halls go was certainly tangible that night. Moviegoers started thronging the area in front of The Cathay, taking one last shot of the striking vertical neon sign.
Jurong Bird Park to close 3 Jan 2023 after 52 years
Jurong Bird Park, one of Singapore's oldest and most iconic attractions, has announced that it will cease operations and shut its doors after more than 50 years.
However, there is some good news. The world-famous park -- home to some 3,500 birds including parrots, flamingos, penguins and eagles -- will join the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, as well as a new luxury Banyan Tree resort, to form an eco-tourism hub in northern Singapore. Jurong Bird Park's last day of operations at its current location will be January 3, 2023, 52 years to the day since opening in 1971. The upcoming Mandai eco hub is slated to open in 2023.
"There are many of us who joined the organization in its early days and have been here over the decades," the park's vice president Daisy Ling said in a statement on Tuesday, August 30, announcing the closure. Built at an initial cost of $2.5 million, the 20.2-hectare park draws about 850,000 visitors annually who flock to see its famed waterfall aviary, bird shows and exhibits. According to Singapore Tourism, it's the largest bird park in Asia. Since its 1971 opening, when there were just 1,000 birds from 60 species, the bird park's capacity has expanded greatly and is now believed to house birds from more than 400 species. Park officers have also been involved in several high profile rescues and rehabilitation efforts over the years.
The iconic Golden Mile Complex - Singaporeans Bid Farewell To ‘Little Thailand’
Golden Mile Complex Tenants To Move Out By May 2023 Following Successful En Bloc Sale
Known for its Thai eateries, supermarkets, and night establishments, Golden Mile Complex has a special place in many Singaporeans’ hearts, especially for those who frequently head down for their late-night mookata fix.
But with the S$700-million en bloc sale finalised earlier this year, some feared that ‘Little Thailand’ may soon be no more. Recent developments have now proven this to be true. On 10 Aug, Edmund Tie & Company, the real estate firm in charge of the sale, announced that the building would be vacated and handed over to the developers by May 2023.
In other words, the renowned Thai establishments in the complex will soon have to move out of the iconic mall. While some stall owners plan on retiring, others plan on relocating. Regardless of their decisions, most of them will leave the iconic mall with feelings of nostalgia. Some Golden Mile Complex tenants mull retirement while others relocate.
The iconic People’s Park Complex 珍 珠 坊
For more than 40 years, the iconic People’s Park Complex stands proudly along Eu Tong Sen Street. At 31 storey high, the yellow-and-green building is easily noticeable from far.
The complex consists of a shopping center situated below its residential block, which was completed in 1970 and 1973 respectively. There are three gigantic Chinese characters on the side of the block that faces the main road. It reads “Zhen Zhu Fang” which literally means “Pearl’s Center”. The complex was designed by a local company called Design Partnership, spearheaded by chief architects Tay Kheng Soon and Koh Seow Chuan.
According to architectural experts, the design of residential block was injected with British Brutalist element, which was hugely popular in the sixties and seventies. Buildings with Brutalist concept usually expose large areas of concrete on their exterior. It resembles some of those residential blocks found in Hong Kong. The original colour of People’s Park Complex was brown and blue. It was given a complete makeover years ago, turning it into the yellow and green appearance that we see today.
Remembering Rochor Centre
A passerby taking snapshots of the iconic colourful blocks at Rochor Centre. These colourful blocks will be slated for demolition at the start of 2017.TNP FOTO: GARY GOH
While almost all of the residents have moved out, those left have until the end of this week to hand over the keys. TNP speaks to one resident, Mr Tan Chai Hock, who had lived there since it was built. He recalls how much it has changed in 40 years.
From only the 7th storey of the Rochor Centre, you could have a clear view of the sea. Hard to believe these days.
Back in the 70s, Mr Tan Chai Hock never thought that he could own a flat, let alone one in a prime area like the Rochor Centre.
Remembering Sim Lim Square 森林商业中心
Sim Lim 50 years published by Sim Lim Investments Limited, The Straits Times
Sim Lim Tower was built by Sim Lim Realty, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sim Lim Group of Companies and opened its doors in 1980 at Jalan Besar. It functioned as the headquarters of the company and housed an "Electronic and Electrical City" which now specialises in hardware-type products, cables and electronics components such as resistors and capacitors.
Sim Lim Square, which is across the street on Rochor Canal Road and specialises in consumer electronics such as computers, cameras and mobile phones, opened in 1987. The mall was recently in the news after a retailer tried to give a customer more than $1,000 in coins after it was ordered by the Small Claims Tribunal to give a refund. Its management has also appealed to the authorities to "take a tough stand against the recalcitrant retailers", saying it has been "disappointed with the apparent lack of measures which the authorities are able to take against these incorrigible retailers".
Here's a timeline of the company that has its roots in timber:
- 1930s and 40s: Sim Lim first started as a timber business by Mr Soon Peng Yam in partnership with two of his brothers. The name Sim Lim in Chinese comprises a total of five character roots, all of which are the same, and mean wood. Eventually the three men split up, and Mr Soon took over Sim Lim. He died in 2002 at age 90. The timber business was expanded to one dealing in other building materials such as steel, iron and cement.
- 1950: Sim Lim Company, which became a family business, was incorporated as Sim Lim Private Limited Company.
- 1960s: Sim Lim Co Pte Ltd diversified its business and started to be involved in building industries and other businesses and became Sim Lim Group of Companies.
- 1970s: The company was badly affected by worldwide oil crisis, then recession.
- 1980: Sim Lim Tower opened under developer Sim Lim Realty. A $30 million project, it housed 158 shops in a four-storey Electronic and Electrical City at Jalan Besar, along Sungei Road.
- 1983: Sim Lim Tower was not enough for businessmen who wanted to set up shop, and eight of them went back to Sim Lim Realty and requested them to bid on another piece of land.
- 1987: Sim Lim Square, a six-storey, $140 million project, opened.
- Sim Lim suffered losses in the years to come and was taken over by other companies. It is currently a management corporation, collectively owned by individual shop owners.
Singapore's 4 Heritage Hotels
Raffles Hotel
Situated in the heart of the business and civic district, Raffles Singapore is a veritable oasis in the city. The hotel was built by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers and it opened its doors in 1887. The Raffles Hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. Today, it is one of the few remaining great 19th century hotels in the world, and the flagship property of Raffles Hotels & Resorts.
A century after its opening, the hotel was declared a National Monument by the Singapore Government. Its colonial architecture stand out from the contemporary style of its surrounding neighbours in the business and civic district. Through the decades, liveried Sikh doormen have welcomed some of the most famous personalities, from writers to celebrities, politicians and members of royalty. Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling and Michael Jackson are among those who have succumbed to the charms of the Raffles.
Today, nothing much has changed with esteemed guests such as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, George Bush, Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Louboutin still choosing to put up at the hotel. No visit to Singapore is complete without a stay at this iconic all-suite luxury Singapore hotel. Each suite features period furnishings, lofty 14-foot ceilings and modern conveniences expected of a 21st-century hotel. Raffles butlers, legendary for their charming and graceful service are available to fulfil requests both ordinary and extraordinary. 14 restaurants and bars offers a unique menu prepared using only the freshest of ingredients. Among the most well-loved include the fine dining establishment Raffles Grill; Long Bar, where the famous Singapore Sling was created; and Writers Bar, a tribute to the novelists and travel writers, who have become part of the hotel’s legend.
Closure of Singapore's Iconic Buildings & Landmarks
First established in the 1930s on the banks of the Rochor River, Sungei Road Market quickly became the biggest flea market where you could find cheap, old and strange items at a “steal”, giving it its nickname, the “Thieves’ Market.
Three years after filming its last days before the market was demolished to make way for redevelopment, documentary-maker OKJ hunts down the old vendors and discovers a tale of struggle to find a new home.
Can they pick up the pieces of the past and keep the memories and spirit of Singapore’s oldest and most infamous flea market alive?
National Monuments of Singapore
Our National Monuments are an integral part of Singapore’s built heritage, which the National Heritage Board (NHB) preserves and promotes for posterity. They are monuments and sites that are accorded the highest level of protection in Singapore.