The National Heritage Board announced this morning that six buildings have been gazetted as national monuments. Selected for their social-historical significance, these buildings not only had architectural merit but were important to the community and the people.

The Manasseh Meyer Building at the National University of Singapore (former Raffles College) is one of the buildings that will be preserved.

Joining the elite ranks of preserved buildings are Former Raffles College; Former Command House; Church of St Teresa; Former St James Power Station, Keng Teck Whay and Bowyer Block at the Singapore General Hospital. This brings to 61 the total number of  National Monument here.

Michael Koh, Chief Executive Officer of NHB said:”These sentinels of the past speak volumes of our history and heritage. According them to the status of National Monuments will ensure that the buildings and contributions of the people behind them will remain in the consciousness of Singaporeans for generations to come.”

Announcing the gazetting of these new monuments at the National Museum of Singapore, RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts also launched Resonance Songs of our Forefathers – a photography book by the Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) that captures our nation’s rich architecture. The book is a commitment to preserve Singapore’s built heritage and features 24 of our country’s 55 National Monuments artistically portrayed by Kwek Leng Joo, Managing Director of City Developments Limited and his team of photographers. This combine launch of the six new monuments and the book is timed with PMB’s ongoing efforts to increase public engagement and appreciation of our nation’s historical structures.

Our six new national monuments are familiar to many of us and all have their own stories to tell. They are:

Keng Teck Whay

Built between 1847 and 1875 by 36 members of Hokkien chinese heritage, Keng Teck Whay was constructed using traditional Chinese building crafts and materials. This building of min-nan architectural style is a living testament to the founding members’ efforts and contributions and membership is presently limited to the descendents of the founding members. The clan association helped Singapore’s early settlers particularly widoes and the destitute. Together with the Thian Hock Keng and Chung Wen Pagoda, the Keng Teck Whay contributes to the assembly of traditional Chinese buildings along Telok Ayer Street.

Former Command House at 17 Kheam Hock Road

Formerly known as ‘Flagstaff House’, this colonial period house was built in the 1930s and designed by architect Frank Brewer. An important witness to Singapore’s past, this house had several notable residents and served as official residence of sixteen successive General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malaya and Singapore between 1938 and 1971. An interesting feature of this bungalow is the side wings which are angled forward as if to embrace and welcome visitors.The most natable resident was Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, who stayed there in 1946.

Former Raffles College

Oei Tiong Ham Building at NUS.

Officially opened on 22 July 1929, Raffles College was dedicated to “the promotion of arts, science and learning and the provision of higher education for students without distinction of sex, race, nationality or religion.” It was the first institution on higher learning available in Malaya and later merged in 1949 with the King Edward VII School of Medicine to form University of Malaya, a precursor to the National University of Singapore. The buildings to be preserved are Oei Tiong Ham Building, C J Koh Law Library, Manasseh Meyer Building, Federal Building, Eu Tong Sen Building and Li Ka Shing Building, together with the Upper and Lower Quadrangle – all of these have witnedded the chronicle of the evolution of the university campus.

Church of St Teresa

The first rural church in Singapore, the Church of St Teresa was opened on 7 April 1929. It was originally built to serve the Hokkien-dialect Chinese Catholics in the Kampong Bahru area. The Church’s architecture is modeled after Romano-Byzantine design of the Basilica of the Secred Heart in Monmartre, Paris. As part of its mission, it was the Church that intiated the setting up of Catholic Schools in Singapore such as the Carmelite Convent, St Teresa’s High School and Catholic High School.

Former St James Power Station

More commonly known as the popular one-top nightlife destination, the St James Power Station was previously Singapore’s first municipal operated power station. With its distinctive red bricks walls, this building which was built in 1926 is the only historical industrial building in Singapore with triple level arch shaped windows. Its voluminous space in the interiror was initially designed to house the electricity generators, however these were removed after the power station was decommissioned in the 1970s. The space was later converted to the a club when the Power Station underwent restoration and conversion for adaptive re-use in 2005.

Bowyer Block at the Singapore General Hospital

Established in 1821, the Singapore General Hospital is our nation’s oldest hospital. When the hospital opened at its current location on 29 March 1926, there were only 800 beds and three blocks known as the Upper, Middle and Lower Blocks. The Bowyer Block is the only surviving building of the original 1926 structures. Renamed after Dr John Herbert Bowyer, former Chief Medical Officer who died during the war, the Bowyer Block forms an important episode in our nation’s medical history. Today, the building has been re-adapted for use as the SGH Museum.