Victor Koo supplies the red gourd photo which Noel requested for in this blog entry. He also reminisces about the soon-to-be-destroyed New 7th Storey Hotel.

I just read an article in yesterday.sg about the destruction of an old landmark in Tiong Bahru. (The original article appears on Tiong Bahru Estate blog and is about the destruction of the red gourd burner in Tiong Bahru estate.)

Oh soooo sad… sob, sob.

In the article, Noel laments:

“Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any pictures of the red gourd burner before it was destroyed. Perhaps someone has an image that can be shared on yesterday.sg or the Tiong Bahru Estate Blog?”

Well, fret not, Noel. I have had the foresight of taking a photo of the burner in January last year. Here it is:

Another old Singapore landmark that will soon disappear is The New 7th Storey Hotel. (The word “new” in the hotel’s name is actually quite a misnomer – the hotel is 55-year-old as it was built in 1953. Even the order “7th” is inaccurate – I will tell you why later.) It has just been announced that the hotel will make way for a Downtown Line MRT station. According to the Land Transport Authority, the owner and occupants of the hotel, who will have to move out of the building by end December, will receive “compensation pegged at market value”. (Note, not “nostalgic value” hor.)

So you (not just Noel) better go take some good photos of the hotel before it disappears from our island forever. I have already done so. (Please see photos below.) And if someone asks me for the photos again, I am going to charge. :p

The hotel was the tallest building around that area at that time. I counted the number of storeys – there seems to be 8. Hmm… can you count again for me? According to the hotel’s website here, it actually has 9 storeys. Oh dear, now we are short of one, unless you count the rooftop as well.

Ah okay, if you look at the backside (pardon the language), it indeed has 9 storeys.

And if you peep at the right side of the backside, a very exciting feature is revealed – a quaint and retro-looking spiral staircase!

The very inviting hotel entrance.

An even more inviting restaurant entrance. Hmm… does anyone know if Ban Leong & Co was the original owner of the hotel?

Inside the restaurant. Erm… why there were no diners present was because it was…

10.40 in the morning lah. (A clock frozen in time, just like the hotel. Haha.)

The very warm receptionist. (No, not that he’s feeling warm – the hotel is air-conditioned.)

They are also computerised and even have BIG LCD screens that obscure faces.

The last surviving cage-lift in Singapore but it would soon be gone too.

Isn’t the hotel cute? Instead of just taking photos, it would be even better if you could stay a few nights in the hotel. I bet you’ll never ever have the chance again to have the same experience after this December.

Footnote about blog title:

Another One Bites The Dust is the title of a 1980 funk-rock hit song by British rock band Queen which you don’t expect people of my age to know. But hey, I do. You can refer to the song’s lyrics here.

Tags: Tiong Bahru, Red Gourd Burner, New 7th Storey Hotel