Do let us know if you have some interesting facts you would like to share along with ours! We'll be more than happy to hear from ya!
Soothing shades of pastels, perfect as a backdrop for the Anooki facade show beamed upon our iconic National Museum building.
I took the route (marked blue in map, feel free to zoom in for a closer look,) across Cavenagh Bridge, pass the Asian Civilisation Museum at Empress Place, The Arts House (Old Parliament), new Parliament building, Central Fire Station, Armenian Church, Peranakan Museum and finally on National Museum of Singapore.
Just in front of the Maybank building is a bronze sculpture depicting a typical scene of coolies (with the background scene of an ongoing mediation between a Scot, a Chinese trader and a Malay chief) at work in the heydays of Old Singapore. This instalment, named "The River Merchants" by Aw Tee Hong, is part of a series of bronze sculptures scattered along the banks of the Singapore River.
Named after the last Governer of the Straits Settlement (1859-1867) Cavenagh Bridge was built in 1868 by Indian convicts, and is today the oldest bridge in Singapore. Interesting trivia - the steel structure was made by P&W MacLellan Engineers of Scotland of the Clutha Ironworks (the same company that made the cast iron Telok Ayer Market, or better known as Lao Pa Sat), and was shipped out from Glasgow.
(Information from EResources National Library Board)
Another bronze sculpture along our river, "The First Generation", done by Chong Fah Cheong (who is by the way, self taught!). This piece depicts a group of 5 boys in the buff playing and jumping into the river. This nostalgic scene was once a familiar sight in settlements along any waterways one might come across in old Singapura. Sadly, this is now but a piece of art serving as a reminder to our pioneer generation of the carefree days of years gone by.
Right across the river from Fullerton Hotel is the Asian Civilisation Museum (also known as Empress Place Building, was once part of the civic district during the British administration). Built in 1865, the building was to become the new Court House, however, the Government Secretariat became the first occupant of the building. It was subsequently renamed Empress Place Building in 1907 in honor of Queen Victoria who passed on in 1901. Over the years, Empress Place Building served as a space for various government offices. The building underwent extensive renovation for 14 months and eventually reopened in 1989 as Asian Civilisation Museum.
Built sometime between 1826-1827 as the residence of a Scottish merchant named John Argyle Maxwell, but was never used as such. Mr Maxwell then rented the building to the government as a courthouse and was subsequently sold in 1829. It continued to serve as a courthouse till 1939. In 1959, the building was named Parliament House when the People Action's Party came into ruling power and served as it's namesake till 1999. The building was eventually known as Old Parliament House when the new parliament building was opened.
This bronze elephant statue was a gift from King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) to commemorate his visit in 1871 (the first by a Thai monarch). It was originally housed in front of Victoria Memorial Hall but was shifted to the Court House when Sir Stamford Raffles' statue was erected for Singapore's Centenary celebrations. The statue stands atop a pedestal with inscriptions in Jawi, Siamese, Chinese and English that reads "His Majesty Somdetch Paramindr Maha Chulalongkorn, the Supreme King of Siam, landed at Singapore, the first foreign land visited by a Siamese Monarch, on the 16th March, 1871"
The new Parliament complex was built to ease the problem of space constraint faced by the Old Parliament House. In September 1999, an entourage of MPs led by the then Speaker of Parliament, Mr Tan Soo Khoon and then Prime Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong conducted the ceremonial "walk over" along Parliament Place to the new Parliament House where the flag of Singapore was hoisted with the accompaniment of our national anthem playing. The building was officially opened on 4th October 1999.
Formerly known as Old Hill Street Police Station, this eye-catching colourful building now houses MICA (Ministry of Communications and Arts) and is known as, yes, you guessed it - MICA Building! It was officially opened in 1934 and in 1935 was occupied by the Singapore Police Force. In it were garages, offices and also living quarters for policemen. Following the Police Force occupancy ceasing in 1980, Old Hill Street Police Station was renamed Hill Street Building in 1983 and was occupied by the National Archives and Oral History Department, Official Trustees, the Official Assignees and Public Receiver and the Board of Film Censors. The building was declared a national monument in 1998. Hill Street Building was renamed MICA Building in 2004.
The iconic Central Fire Station, the oldest surviving fire station complex in our Little Red Dot. Designed by William Ferguson, built in 1908 and completed in 1909, the building was modernised with a squad of fully motorised fire fighting vehicles (which were produced by London steam engine manufacturer Merryweathers & Sons). During the Second World War, the red and white facade of the building was painted over with camouflage paint to help conceal the building from the Japanese bomber pilots. Despite the efforts, the building unfortunately did sustain several hits. In it's heyday, the tall lookout tower measuring an impressive 34 metres in height had a fireman stationed in the tower as a lookout to spot any fire outbreaks within the vicinity. Central Fire Station was eventually gazetted a national monument in 1998. The building still serve as a fire station today and yes, you can visit the station! SCDF has an "Open House" every Saturday morning from 9.00am - 11.00am where you can visit any fire station on our island (except the one at Jurong Island and Changi Airport). Central Fire Station seems most popular, must be the lure of it's old world charm :)
A past visit had us oh-so-entertained! Friendly firemen were on hand to let the kiddos sit in fire engines, play "shoot-the-target" with real life fire hose, there was even a "live entertainment" segment where the firemen demonstrated their agility with fancy slide-down-the-pole-manoeuvres.
More on this coming soon!
Oldest church building in Little Red Dot. In 1909, the church was amongst one the few buildings in town to have electric fans and lights installed. The building, like many others, was not spared from the clutches of the invading Japanese during World War II - the grounds was used as air raid shelters. Majority of the funds to build the church was mainly raised by the local Armenian community, as well as those from Java and Calcutta. The church is named after St Gregory the Illuminator, a patron saint and the first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Previously known as the Tao Nan School, which was established in 1906 with funding fromthe Hokkien Huay Kuan. Some notable names of donors who contributed to the funding are Tan Kah Kee (a wealthy Chinese leader who founded The Chinese High School), Oei Tiong Ham (sugar tycoon) and Lee Cheng Yan (Chinese Straits businessman who later became Justice of Peace). Tao Nan School was one of the 6 modern Chinese school set up in Singapore at that time.
The building was designed by the Municipal Engineer's Office in Singapore and is done in the Eclectic-classical style. The facade features Neoclassical elements, such as ornate Corinthian capitals atop fluted columns and pilasters. In dealing with the heat from our tropical climate, tropical adaptations were also added to the building - large windows, spacious verandahs, clay roof tiles and high ceilings were used extensively throughout the premises. In 1996, Tao Nan School building was refurbished as Asian Civilisation Museum and was gazetted a national monument in 1998. From 2005 on the building was redeveloped to be what is currently the Peranakan Museum.
Me thinks, this sculpture was done Mr Chern Lian Shan (Taiwanese born sculpture). Done in bronze, it depicts a little girl pointing towards her grandmother (at the balcony of the second floor of the building) and her grandfather. Mr Chern can also be credited for restoring the 2 iconic cast iron eagle sculptures back to glory (the eagles stands at the entrance to the museum). When Tao Nan school moved to it's new premises at Marine Parade, the eagles moved along but were subsequently back at their original home in Armenian Street in 1996 as they are regarded as symbols of excellence at the Tao Nan School, and thus should be maintained at the original building.
Tah-dah! Like finally! Always in awe of this building which has seen so much. As you can see, this has the Anooki show projected on it (which was from 2015's Night Festival), ya, this post took THAT long.. naughty naughty. So there you have it, the grand finale to the start of a beautiful evening (then). You can read more about our previous visit to the National Museum here, just in case you missed the first time round!
Till our next walking adventure, au revoir!
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