Sultan Mosque is one of the oldest and most important mosques in Singapore. It also has impressive architecture, a most distinctive feature of which must be the dome. The mosque looks like it is located in North Bridge Road but its address is really No. 3 Muscat Street, Singapore 198833. The mosque is situated in an area of old Singapore called Kampong Glam.

In the above illustration, the left image is by courtesy of Michael Frost who took the photo in 1948. Michael wrote a caption in very neat handwriting:

“The newly painted Sultan Mosque stands like a cake decoration amid the squalor of North Bridge Road.”

With modern and imposing buildings in the North Bridge Road area now, i.e. Parkview Square, Golden Landmark Hotel, Raffles Hospital, Bugis Junction and Hotel Inter-Continental, I am not sure if the word “squalor” is still an apt word to describe this locality.

The right image in the above photo was taken by me recently. On the right side of the image, you could see a partial view of Parkview Square. On the left, The Gateway (West) in Beach Road is partly visible. There are several other things that stand out in stark contrast. For example, you could tell that the prewar house standing near Arab Street looks different. In addition, several trees have sprung up around the mosque, testimony to Singapore’s reputation as a Garden City. The trees have almost completely obscured the lower facade of the mosque. Notice also that the antique car has been replaced by a modern luxury model.

Here’s a 2nd “second-shot” taken from Jalan Pinang:

From the above photo, it is evident that the prewar houses on the left side of Jalan Pinang have been demolished.

The following passage is reproduced from “Singapore Guide and Street Directory, 7th Edition, March 1963″:

“Masjid Sultan – The Sultan Mosque, designed by Swan & MacLaren and built in 1924-8. The earliest mosque on this site was built about 1823-4, before North Bridge Road extended beyond the present Arab Street. In June 1823, Raffles promised that the East India Company would pay $3,000 towards the cost of its erection; and it was certainly completed two years later when Lt. Jackson laid down the remaining section of the road, and had to make a kink in it to get past the mosque.”

Below is the entry in “Singapore – The Encyclopedia”:

“Regarded as Singapore’s principal mosque, it began as a simple structure with a three-tier tiled roof on North Bridge Road. This was built in 1826, in accordance with the 1824 treaty ceding Singapore to the British, which also promised a sum of money for rebuilding an old mosque in the Sultan’s enclave.

The mosque has since been rebuilt on land added by the Sultan’s descendants. In 1925, Dennis Santry of Swan & Maclaren was commissioned to design the present structure, paid for by grants from the royal family and contributions from the Muslim community. This included donations of green glass bottles from the poor, which have been incorporated into the base of the dome. After its completion, a constitution was drafted stipulating that the trustees of the mosque must comprise Malays, Javanese, Bugis, Arabs, Tamils and North Indian Muslims, to represent the multiracial nature of Singapore’s Muslim community.

The mosque was gazetted as a national monument in 1975. In 1993, an annex was added for an auditorium and a multi-purpose hall. Sultan Mosque remains one of the largest mosques in Singapore. Its prayer hall can accommodate 5,000 worshippers.”

Below are two more photos – one was taken in 1972 while the other is a recent photo. Both are purportedly taken from Bussorah Street. However, I don’t know why the orientation of the mosque looks slightly different in the two photos. Perhaps you can help me solve this mystery?

You can read more about the Sultan Mosque in this Wikipedia entry and here.