Former Admiralty House

Historic site in Old Nelson Road, Singapore

Not to be confused with Admiralty House (disambiguation).

Former Admiralty House

Location| 345 Old Nelson Road
Coordinates| 1°26′50.92″N 103°49′20.3″E﻿ / ﻿1.4474778°N 103.822306°E﻿ / 1.4474778; 103.822306
Built| 1940; 85 years ago (1940)
Governing body| National Heritage Board

National monument of Singapore

Designated| 2 December 2002; 22 years ago (2002-12-02)
Reference no.| 45

Location of Former Admiralty House in Singapore

The Former Admiralty House (Malay: Gedung Lama Laksamana; Chinese: 旧海军部屋; pinyin: Jiù Hǎijūnbù Wū) is a historic building, located at Old Nelson Road within the Sembawang Planning Area in the North Region of Singapore. The building was used as the administration building of Furen International School (FIS) until November 2019 and is currently being refurbished for use as part of the Sembawang Sports and Community Hub.[1][2]

## History

[edit]

The house was completed in 1940 and was named Canberra House.[3] It is a residence for the Rear Admiral, Malaya \- the commander of His Majesty's Naval Establishments (naval base) in Sembawang. It was to have been one of three residences to have been built for the senior commanders of the three service arms: the army, led by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Malaya (Flagstaff House at Kheam Hock Road); the Air Force, led by the Air-Officer Commanding (AOC), Far East in Tanglin (there is no evidence of this having been built) and the Navy.[4] It was referred to as 'Navy House' in a news article in the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser in October 1941 on the residence's first residents, Rear Admiral Ernest John Spooner and Mrs Megan Spooner (née Foster) - a renowned soprano back in Britain.[5]

After the war, the building became the official residence of the Flag Officer, Malayan Area and was renamed Nelson House.[3][6]

In 1958, it became the residence of the British Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief, Far East Station when the Flag Officers role was subsumed under the command.[7] It was subsequently renamed Admiralty House (not to be confused with the earlier C-in-C's residence at Grange Road also named Admiralty House). The building was renamed again to ANZUK House in 1971 as the residence of the Commander of the ANZUK Force following the British military withdrawal.[3]

After the British forces left Singapore in 1975, Sembawang Shipyard inherited the building and used it as a recreation club.[8] In 1991, the building was renovated to become Yishun Country Club.[8] The Karimun Admiralty Country Club then took over the building with a change in tenant in 2001.[8]

On 2 December 2002, the building was gazetted as a national monument of Singapore and its name was changed to Former Admiralty House upon gazette.[3]

In 2007, Karimun Admiralty Country Club vacated the premises and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) put up the Old Admiralty House for public tender for development of the area which was won by YESS Group Pte Ltd.[9] In 2010, SLA terminated the contract with YESS Group after it failed to pay rent and took back the land.[10]

On 22 March 2011, Furen International School (FIS), a boarding school, took over the running of the property. The school converted the building into its administration building, a nerve centre to run the surrounding academic and hostel buildings.

In order to do justice to this beautiful building, FIS worked closely with the Preservation Monument Board in restoring the building to its former glory; all of it privately funded by the school without subsidy from the government. The site was returned to the State at the end of 2019 and work is being carried out on it to incorporate it into the Sembawang Sports and Community Hub.[2]

## Architecture

[edit]

The two-storey colonial residence was designed in a unique Arts and Crafts architectural style popular in the 19th century.

Former Admiralty House had been attributed to English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.[3][11] There is however, no evidence of this, other than Lutyens having been closely connected with the late 19th Century Arts and Crafts designs in Britain. By the 1900s, he had already moved away from the style and was advanced in age and poor health at the time of the design and construction of the structure.[3]

The house, resembling a traditional English cottage, sits on a lush, open garden and has an interesting internal layout and of "asymmetrical" design. It is two storeys high with a one-storey wing on the north-west side.[11]

The building is on a 4 hectares (0.040 km2; 9.9 acres) site,[3] which in its time as Furen International School, included six hostel blocks, six academic blocks, dance studio, swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, laundry block and an air-raid shelter.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "School Description - FIS". FIS. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
2. ^ a b "Sembawang Residents to Embrace Sport, Health, Food, Greenery and Heritage at Bukit Canberra". Sports Singapore (Press Release). 1 July 2018. Archived from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
3. ^ a b c d e f g Roots.sg. "Former Admiralty House". National Heritage Board. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
4. ^ Zaccheus, Melody, ed. (2018). Monumental Treasures, Singapore's Heritage Icons. Singapore: Straits Times Press. pp. 18–19\. ISBN 978-981-47-4793-6.18-19&rft.pub=Straits+Times+Press&rft.date=2018&rft.isbn=978-981-47-4793-6&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Former+Admiralty+House" class="Z3988">
5. ^ Heathcott, Mary (18 October 1941). "Mary Heathcott Writes". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
6. ^ "Parents Cut Cruise To Stay In Colony". The Straits Times. 16 September 1948. p. 5. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
7. ^ "C-IN-C To Take Over Post". Singapore Standard. 8 March 1958. p. 5.
8. ^ a b c "Different names through the years". The Straits Times. 7 February 2007. pp. H7.
9. ^ Cheam, Jessica (9 May 2007). "Old Admiralty House to get makeover as country club". The Straits Times. pp. H4.
10. ^ Lim, Jessica (2 July 2010). "Admiral Hill developer dropped". The Straits Times. pp. A12.
11. ^ a b Koh, Genette (6 December 2002). "Three historic buildings picked for preservation". The Straits Times. pp. H13.

National monuments of Singapore

(Legend: † demolished)

Gazetted
in 1970s|

| 1973|

* 1. Old Thong Chai Medical Institution
* 2. Armenian Church
* 3. St Andrew's Cathedral
* 4. Former Telok Ayer Market
* 5. Thian Hock Keng
* 6. Sri Mariamman Temple
* 7. Masjid Hajjah Fatimah
* 8. Cathedral of the Good Shepherd

|

1974|

* 9. Nagore Durgha
* 10. Masjid Al-Abrar
* 11. House of Tan Yeok Nee
* 12. Tan Si Chong Su
* 13. Masjid Jamae

1975|

* 14. Sultan Mosque

1978|

* 15. Saint George's Church
* 16. Hong San See
* 17. Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

1979|

* 18. Masjid Abdul Gaffoor

Gazetted
in 1980s|

| 1980|

* 19. Siong Lim Temple

|

1987|

* 20. Raffles Hotel

1989|

* 21. Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church
* 22. Goodwood Park Hotel (Tower Block)

Gazetted
in 1990s|

| 1990|

* 23. (Caldwell House and Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Chapel)

|

1992|

* 24. (The Istana and Sri Temasek)
* 25. City Hall
* 26. Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall
* 27. Old Parliament House and Annex Building
* 28. Old Supreme Court Building
* 29. Empress Place Building
* 30. National Museum of Singapore
* 31. Former Saint Joseph's Institution
* 32. Former Attorney-General's Chambers

1994|

* 33. Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall

1996|

* 34. Yueh Hai Ching Temple

1998|

* 35. Maghain Aboth Synagogue
* 36. Old Ministry of Labour Building
* 37. Old Tao Nan School
* 38. Chesed-El Synagogue
* 39. Old Hill Street Police Station
* 40. Ying Fo Fui Kun
* 41. Central Fire Station
* 42. Nanyang University Arch, Nanyang University Memorial and Nanyang University Library and Administration Building

1999|

* 43. The Chinese High School Clock Tower Building

Gazetted
in 2000s|

| 2002|

* 44. Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church
* 45. Former Admiralty House
* 46. Tan Teck Guan Building
* 47. College of Medicine Building

|

2003|

* 48. Cathay Building †
* 49. Church of Saints Peter and Paul
* 50. MacDonald House

2005|

* 51. Saint Joseph's Church
* 52. Church of Our Lady of Lourdes
* 53. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
* 54. Tou Mu Kung Temple

2006|

* 55. Former Ford Factory

2009|

* 56. (Manasseh Meyer Building and Former Raffles College, currently the Bukit Timah campus of National University of Singapore)
* 57. Church of St Teresa
* 58. Keng Teck Whay
* 59. Former Command House
* 60. St James Power Station
* 61. Bowyer Block, Singapore General Hospital

Gazetted
in 2010s|

| 2010|

* 62. Singapore Conference Hall
* 63. (Lim Bo Seng Memorial, Tan Kim Seng Fountain and The Cenotaph)

|

2011|

* 64. Former Tanjong Pagar railway station

2013|

* 65. Civilian War Memorial

2014|

* 66. Chung Cheng High School (Main)
* 67. Sri Thendayuthapani Temple
* 68. Masjid Alkaff Upper Serangoon

2015|

* 69. Jurong Town Hall
* 70. Istana Kampong Glam
* 71. Fullerton Building

2016|

* 72. Changi Prison, Old Entrance Gate, Turret and Wall

2019|

* 73. (Anderson Bridge, Cavenagh Bridge and Elgin Bridge)

Gazetted
in 2020s|

| 2022|

* 74. Fort Siloso
* 75. Padang

|

Authority control databases |

* VIAF

|