Sensational Singapore buldings, old and new; Part 2
April 25th 2008 06:30
Colonial mansions, Hindu Temples, Middle Eastern and Moorish Saracenic Mosques, Gothic and Neo-classical churches, Georgian and Victorian public buildings, modern high rise towers, twenty-first century creations that, as yet, defy classification and, of course, its very own native sons, those exquisite shop houses, architecturally, Singapore has them all. Among this panoply of great buildings, there are, however, some absolute stand-outs.
Raffles Hotel, named after the founding father of the city state, is one of Singapore’s most recognizable landmarks and arguably its most famous institution. .
The original Raffles Hotel, opened in 1887 by the Armenian entrepreneurs Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak Sarkies, was a simple colonial bungalow with ten rooms. It stood on an auspicious site, by the seashore, at the corner of Beach and Bras Basah Roads, where, in 1842, Maria Dyer (wife of the Missionary Samual Dyer) had established Singapore’s first girls’ school. In 1899 the Sarkies’ bungalow was replaced by architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell’s grand colonial palace, which forms the core of today’s hotel complex. In time, a verandah, a ballroom, a bar and a billiards room were added, along with new wings and out-buildings. In 1989, Raffles closed for a $160 million dollar refurbishment. It re-opened on September 16, 1991, restored to the standard and style of its 1915 heyday. An extension, true to the building’s original colonial design, houses the Raffles Museum, the Jubilee Hall and the exclusive Raffles boutique shopping arcade, which includes Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s and the local Bespoke Tailors CYC. Over the years, as the expanding city has reclaimed more and more land, the distance has grown between Raffles and the sea. Today, it stands 500 metres from the shore, in the heart of downtown Singapore.
But grand and commanding as they are, Raffles is more than the sum of its buildings and position. Since its beginnings as a ten-room bungalow beside the beach, it has seen heydays and survived doldrums, it has been the backdrop to some of Singapore’s bravest and darkest history and to some of its best stories. It was in Raffles’s Long Bar, according to one of those stories, that the last surviving Singapore Tiger was shot. The first Singapore Sling was mixed in the Long Bar, by bartender, Ngiam Tong Boon, sometime between 1910 and 1915, in the glittering heyday both of colonial society and of Raffles (when, incidentally, Asians were excluded from the hotel) During the Great Depression, the hotel dropped into the doldrums and went into receivership. It was rescued in 1933, by the newly formed Raffles Hotel Ltd. When the conquering Japanese stormed Singapore on February, 15, 1942, they found Raffles’ guests dancing a last brave waltz. During the occupation the hotel was home to the Japanese army and was renamed Syonan Ryokan, Inn of the Light of the South. Raffles saw its darkest moments, when, after the liberation of Singapore, 300 Japanese soldiers detonated hand-grenades and ended their lives in its rooms. After the war, the hotel was used a transit camp where allied prisoners of war recovered from their ordeals.
Raffles, too, recovered from the ravages of the war. On 16 September, 1991 it celebrated its 120th anniversary with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who celebrated his 84th birthday at the same time. Today, Raffles is managed by Raffles International Limited and is one of the world’s great hotels. It is a national monument as well as a Singapore tourist icon and a Singapore Sling in Raffles Long Bar is de rigeur for any visitor to the island state.
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On North Bridge Road, stands Parkview Square, a grand, towering monolith at the edge of an expanse of vivid green lawn, with the doll-sized shop houses of Kampong Glam on one side and the squat blocks of Bugis Junction on the other. Aptly described by one critic as “art deco meets Gotham City”, it harnesses classical deco flourish to bold, powerful, futuristic lines.
Parkview Square was the swan song of Taiwanese Tycoon, Mr C.S. Hwang, chairman of the Chyu Fwu Group, who, for his last project, wanted something “imposing and monumental, yet stylish and elegant”. Designed by American Architect James Adams in partnership with DP Architects of Singapore, the $87.93 million building was inspired by New York’s 1929 Chanin Building.
The streamlined exterior of Parkview Square is clad in brown granite, bronze lacquer and glass. It is heavily ornamented with motifs and sculptures. Gargoyles keep watch over its walls and four massive fibreglass men, holding light balls, stand guard on the points of its roof. The building sits in a Venetian-style piazza, ringed by statues of inspirational world leaders and artists, including Sun Yat Sen, Abraham Lincoln, Salavador Dali, Mozart, Chopin, Isaac Newton, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Plato, Dante, Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein. In its centre is a statue of a mythological golden crane, a talisman of prosperity for the building. A Chinese poem on the pedestal describes its return to its temple in Hubei.
Inside, Parkview Square’s cavernous 15 metre high lobby has art deco pillars, balconies in cast bronze, walls with murals and ceilings with frescos in art nouveau style. But despite the stunning décor, centre stage in the lobby is seized by the Divine Wine Society Bar’s Gotham City-scale, 3 storey wine chiller.
Primarily, Parkview Square is office block, which seems rather a pedestrian purpose for a building which speaks so volubly of boundless creativity and limitless skies. But then, who knows what inspired visions and bold dreams are born on those infinitely re-configurable floors?
Raffles, Beach Road
The original Raffles Hotel, opened in 1887 by the Armenian entrepreneurs Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak Sarkies, was a simple colonial bungalow with ten rooms. It stood on an auspicious site, by the seashore, at the corner of Beach and Bras Basah Roads, where, in 1842, Maria Dyer (wife of the Missionary Samual Dyer) had established Singapore’s first girls’ school. In 1899 the Sarkies’ bungalow was replaced by architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell’s grand colonial palace, which forms the core of today’s hotel complex. In time, a verandah, a ballroom, a bar and a billiards room were added, along with new wings and out-buildings. In 1989, Raffles closed for a $160 million dollar refurbishment. It re-opened on September 16, 1991, restored to the standard and style of its 1915 heyday. An extension, true to the building’s original colonial design, houses the Raffles Museum, the Jubilee Hall and the exclusive Raffles boutique shopping arcade, which includes Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s and the local Bespoke Tailors CYC. Over the years, as the expanding city has reclaimed more and more land, the distance has grown between Raffles and the sea. Today, it stands 500 metres from the shore, in the heart of downtown Singapore.
Raffles "side gate
But grand and commanding as they are, Raffles is more than the sum of its buildings and position. Since its beginnings as a ten-room bungalow beside the beach, it has seen heydays and survived doldrums, it has been the backdrop to some of Singapore’s bravest and darkest history and to some of its best stories. It was in Raffles’s Long Bar, according to one of those stories, that the last surviving Singapore Tiger was shot. The first Singapore Sling was mixed in the Long Bar, by bartender, Ngiam Tong Boon, sometime between 1910 and 1915, in the glittering heyday both of colonial society and of Raffles (when, incidentally, Asians were excluded from the hotel) During the Great Depression, the hotel dropped into the doldrums and went into receivership. It was rescued in 1933, by the newly formed Raffles Hotel Ltd. When the conquering Japanese stormed Singapore on February, 15, 1942, they found Raffles’ guests dancing a last brave waltz. During the occupation the hotel was home to the Japanese army and was renamed Syonan Ryokan, Inn of the Light of the South. Raffles saw its darkest moments, when, after the liberation of Singapore, 300 Japanese soldiers detonated hand-grenades and ended their lives in its rooms. After the war, the hotel was used a transit camp where allied prisoners of war recovered from their ordeals.
Raffles, too, recovered from the ravages of the war. On 16 September, 1991 it celebrated its 120th anniversary with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who celebrated his 84th birthday at the same time. Today, Raffles is managed by Raffles International Limited and is one of the world’s great hotels. It is a national monument as well as a Singapore tourist icon and a Singapore Sling in Raffles Long Bar is de rigeur for any visitor to the island state.
Parkview Square
.
On North Bridge Road, stands Parkview Square, a grand, towering monolith at the edge of an expanse of vivid green lawn, with the doll-sized shop houses of Kampong Glam on one side and the squat blocks of Bugis Junction on the other. Aptly described by one critic as “art deco meets Gotham City”, it harnesses classical deco flourish to bold, powerful, futuristic lines.
Parkview Square was the swan song of Taiwanese Tycoon, Mr C.S. Hwang, chairman of the Chyu Fwu Group, who, for his last project, wanted something “imposing and monumental, yet stylish and elegant”. Designed by American Architect James Adams in partnership with DP Architects of Singapore, the $87.93 million building was inspired by New York’s 1929 Chanin Building.
The streamlined exterior of Parkview Square is clad in brown granite, bronze lacquer and glass. It is heavily ornamented with motifs and sculptures. Gargoyles keep watch over its walls and four massive fibreglass men, holding light balls, stand guard on the points of its roof. The building sits in a Venetian-style piazza, ringed by statues of inspirational world leaders and artists, including Sun Yat Sen, Abraham Lincoln, Salavador Dali, Mozart, Chopin, Isaac Newton, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Plato, Dante, Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein. In its centre is a statue of a mythological golden crane, a talisman of prosperity for the building. A Chinese poem on the pedestal describes its return to its temple in Hubei.
Parkview Square Piazza
Inside, Parkview Square’s cavernous 15 metre high lobby has art deco pillars, balconies in cast bronze, walls with murals and ceilings with frescos in art nouveau style. But despite the stunning décor, centre stage in the lobby is seized by the Divine Wine Society Bar’s Gotham City-scale, 3 storey wine chiller.
Primarily, Parkview Square is office block, which seems rather a pedestrian purpose for a building which speaks so volubly of boundless creativity and limitless skies. But then, who knows what inspired visions and bold dreams are born on those infinitely re-configurable floors?
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