Former City Hall, Singapore

This article is about the building located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. For the precinct commonly and officially known as City Hall, see Civic District.

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1°17′26″N 103°51′6″E﻿ / ﻿1.29056°N 103.85167°E﻿ / 1.29056; 103.85167

Former City Hall

Dewan Bandaraya Singapura

Singapore City Hall

Former names| Municipal Building
City Hall
General information
Status| Occupied
Architectural style| Neoclassical
Location| Downtown Core, Singapore
Address| 3 St Andrew's Road, Singapore 178958
Country| Singapore
Current tenants| National Gallery Singapore
Construction started| 1926; 98 years ago (1926)
Completed| 1929; 95 years ago (1929)
Opened| 23 July 1929; 95 years ago (1929-07-23)
Renovated| 1987, 2015
Cost| $2 million
Affiliation| National Heritage Board
Design and construction
Architect(s)| S. D. Meadows
Alexander Gordon
Other designers| Cavaliere Rudolfo Nolli
Main contractor| Perry and Co. (Overseas) Ltd
Renovating team
Awards and prizes| Good Effort Award (1994)
Urban Redevelopment Authority

National monument of Singapore

Designated| 14 February 1992; 32 years ago (1992-02-14)
Reference no.| 25
Aerial view of the old Supreme Court building (foreground left), new Supreme Court building (middle) and City Hall (foreground right).

The Former City Hall building 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 Former 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.

## History

[edit]

A plaque installed on the facade of the City Hall after it was gazetted as National Monument in 1992.

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.[1] 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 Imperial Japanese Army official Seishirō Itagaki surrendered to Lord Mountbatten in the building to end World War II in Singapore.[2] In 1951, it was renamed to its present name City Hall to mark Singapore as a city, after being granted city status.[1]

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.

Singapore has a unitary system of government. It has not had a mayor or a city council since the end of British rule. The ruling People's Action Party abolished the City Council and the Rural Board in 1959, and the mayor's role disappeared. However, there are five Community Development Councils (namely Central Singapore, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest) which was established in 1997. The CDCs are not directly elected bodies, rather each of them consists of 12 to 80 members appointed by the People's Association Chairman or Deputy Chairman. Each of the five CDCs is headed by a mayor, which is usually an elected MP in the Parliament of Singapore.

In 1987, the building underwent a massive upgrade to allow the building to house governmental offices. In 1988, twelve courtrooms of the City Hall were transferred to the Supreme Court. This restoration work earned a Good Effort Award in 1994 by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The City Hall was the place where Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had his inauguration ceremony and the swearing-in of his cabinet in 1990. The building was also used for many government events over the years, it was used as a venue for the Singapore Biennale, and for the IMF and World Bank Meetings when it was held in Singapore in 2006.

In 2015, The former City Hall, together with the adjacent Former Supreme Court Building, has been converted into the National Gallery Singapore.

## See also

[edit]

* City Hall MRT station
* Supreme Court of Singapore

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "National monuments of Singapore: Former City Hall". AsiaOne. 6 August 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
2. ^ "Japanese In Malaysia Surrender At Singapore". The Straits Times. 13 September 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 9 November 2023 - via NewspaperSG.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to City Hall, Singapore.

* National Heritage Board (2002), Singapore's 100 Historic Places, Archipelago Press, ISBN 981-4068-23-3
* City Hall
* CDCs Archived 17 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine

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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

|

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Geographic|

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