7th heaven for backpackers

8 Jul 07

229 Rochor Road
Tel: 6337-0251
Website: www.nsshotel.com

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20070707/ST_SUNLIFE_1_CURRENT_7TH6m.jpg

THE New 7th Storey Hotel is actually nine storeys high. It has 38 rooms catering to backpackers and the independent traveller and is regularly packed. And no wonder - the 54-year-old establishment retains much of its charm and grandeur.

Inside the lobby, there is a large, old clock from the 1950s. And the tiled flooring is definitely from bygone days. Sofas are in a retro red. A signature of the hotel is its exterior spiral staircase curving its way down in graceful style.

The budget hotel is also known for having a manually-operated lift. Friendly retirees in colourful Hawaiian-print shirts provide 24-hour service with a smile.

The hotel is run by the third generation of the Wee family, descendants of the late Mr Wee Thiam Siew. He spotted the potential for a hotel business on the site in the early 1950s.

At that time, there was an influx of immigrants, traders and European businessmen. The then five-star hotel proved wildly popular.

'We did so well in the beginning because the hotel was very prominent. It was the tallest standing structure in the Beach Road area and was commonly used by drivers to locate the lower Rochor vicinity,' says Ms Shirley Fong, 30, the hotel operations manager.

The late Mr Wee and his family ran the business for about a decade. It went to other hands, but the family took back ownership of the hotel in 1995.

Adds Ms Fong: 'The grandson of Wee Thiam Siew, Mr David Wee, wanted to position the old hotel in a niche market catering to backpack travellers. He started what was the first upmarket dormitory in a hotel-style environment.'

Today, the hotel's proximity to historical landmarks contributes to its popularity. It has a restaurant, self-service laundry services, Internet stations and a beer garden.

Although there have been offers for the land on which the hotel sits, the family has no intention of giving up the business.

Is the hotel still slanting? Read that it was actually slanting but posed no danger. It can read from the site itself.

Yes, I read that from the website and had a look. It does indeed slant slightly.

The slant is more obvious seen from the ground. In this pic (by Pengui), it tilts slightly to the right:

http://ssc.singapenguin.net/06/060708_seventh_storey_hotel01.jpg

All the shophouses had been acquired by govt and demolished in the mid 1990s. :cry:

I dont remember seeing the shophouses next to it, any pics of what the area looked like previously?

The whole area behind it, and the site of Parkview Square (the giant field) was all shophouses like Kg Glam. :(

Sometimes I wonder why is this building still can remain standing while the rest besides it were gone?

I dont remember seeing the shophouses next to it, any pics of what the area looked like previously?

Actually there was a row of shophouses facing Tan Quee Lan ones... u obviously stll v young... this row consist of "Death Houses" where majority of units sold coffins and upper storey rooms / bedspace rented to the dying to "dan si".

I think the only one or two shophouses similar looking ones can be found on Jln Pinang (or Kledek). Now mostly aged are put in old age homes or Kwong Wai Shu Hospital... so dont think you can find death houses anymore... I remember there used to be some in Chinatown... but before my time... just rem reading about them.

Wonder why demolish the shophouses, quite sad. Should had been preserved. NSSH looks odd this way. Imagine in the future NSSH is sandwiched between 2 new malls. :(

Wonder why demolish the shophouses, quite sad. Should had been preserved. NSSH looks odd this way. Imagine in the future NSSH is sandwiched between 2 new malls. :(

Agreed, go look at the model at URA.. it is surrounded by a new mall / block

Actually,NSSH was slated to be demolished but the current owners fought URA in court and I think to date, it's the only pte property ever to succeed over turning a compulsory aquisition order but stating the following reasons:

1. Unique architecture
2. Famous dignitories stayed there incl Ernest Hemmingway, Queen Victoria etc.

What I found strange is tat once upon a time all billboards were banned, inclu the ones at the former circus at the end of Nicoll Highway (junc of Sims Way/Mountbatten), but allowed NSSH to put up Epson's & Fuji's billboards.

I guess bcos its near the slate E-walk and the neon light area in the Selegie area. Anyone can dig up the orig news cuts so substantiate.

The DHL balloon will be gone soon.

Agreed, go look at the model at URA.. it is surrounded by a new mall / block

Actually,NSSH was slated to be demolished but the current owners fought URA in court and I think to date, it's the only pte property ever to succeed over turning a compulsory aquisition order but stating the following reasons:

1. Unique architecture
2. Famous dignitories stayed there incl Ernest Hemmingway, Queen Victoria etc.

What I found strange is tat once upon a time all billboards were banned, inclu the ones at the former circus at the end of Nicoll Highway (junc of Sims Way/Mountbatten), but allowed NSSH to put up Epson's & Fuji's billboards.

I guess bcos its near the slate E-walk and the neon light area in the Selegie area. Anyone can dig up the orig news cuts so substantiate.

The much dreaded land acquisition act. :bash: :ohno:

An old pic showing the area around the hotel from National Archives dated 1976 :)

http://202.172.178.226/DJVUServer/getImage.jsp?file=/picas_data/tn_pcd/19980007530-8263-3201-0183/img0025.jpg

What a pity... All shophouses... gone. Last time we had continous stretch of shophouses from after Raffles Hotel all the way to Kallang River.

Oh WOW!

Couldn't recognise NSSH without Parco & Blanco & Parkview Sq missing from them... I could almost see my hse in it's orig condition too!

LOL!

LOL

Looks like one of the HDB blocks is missing today. What a dense area. Wonder what the actual conditions were like on the ground then.

Messy but delicious...

The winding streets now vacated, and DHL balloon is on, used to have many shophouses with vendors selling fresh produce like vegetables, and butchers, and fish mongers gutting fish...

There used to be a Cantonese restaurant at the corner in front of STA / Apple Strudel (1 lane away from TQL) occupying 2 shophouse that serves yummylicous dishes that reminds me of Drago Ego (The food critic in the Rat-ta-tooe movie) going back to my childhood granny's cooking

That guy has like 4 wifes helping him and owned that huge bungalow along Upp East Coast Road that Spring Court Restaurant used to be.. rental was like over $25K(back in the 80's & 90's that's alot of $$)? I think building was sold for $11M & he retired...

http://www.springcourt.com.sg/Obj/SCR0408001/Images/History.giffrom Spring Court website.

Now its some new apt building called Venezio liao

Should visit the restaurant again for serving great chicken rice during my last visit.
Upon entering, kind of transporting onself back in times, really nostalgia.

Should visit the restaurant again for serving great chicken rice during my last visit.
Upon entering, kind of transporting onself back in times, really nostalgia.

Wow! seems U nvr visit longer than me!

They no longer there liao! Now at Upp Cross St! Lost it's nostalgia... taste also abit different although boss insists chefs all still the same.

And no more 75cent(or was it 76cent) peking duck either... shame!

Don't miss that anymore either cos the taste changed after they relocated... maybe the new ambience abit sterile so duck also tastes abit sterilized.... but I'll bet a kopi that it's a different team of cooks!

Not more shiok factor!

Hmmm I kinda remember there was a Chinese restaurant somewhere down the road from NSSH in 1993/4?

The much dreaded land acquisition act. :bash: :ohno:

abt the billboards, I think the hotel bypass the rule of no 3rd party ad by offering a discount to hotel guests.

look at the lower portion of the AA paper robot billboard, got say discount to hotel guest only.

since dhl ballon now gone and NCO Club land sold, i think the site is next on the chopping block. NSSH owners very rich soon.

abt the billboards, I think the hotel bypass the rule of no 3rd party ad by offering a discount to hotel guests.

look at the lower portion of the AA paper robot billboard, got say discount to hotel guest only.

since dhl ballon now gone and NCO Club land sold, i think the site is next on the chopping block. NSSH owners very rich soon.


Not likely... after their argument to prevent compulsory asquisition, they can probably apply for conservation status... & become the next Raffles or Link Hotel!

Hmmm I kinda remember there was a Chinese restaurant somewhere down the road from NSSH in 1993/4?

Nope... that 1 on North Bridge was a different restaurant, around the corner, down the road from NSSH in 1993/4. (Yes, it did have chicken rice but was not as famous as Yet Con on Purvis or the other 1 now on Beach Rd. & now more famous for the Hainanese kaya toast than the Chicken rice it seems!)

Boss of that was the owner of the Upp East Coast Road building occupied by Spring Court...

Heard he retired with ano Chinese wife(?)

Not likely... after their argument to prevent compulsory asquisition, they can probably apply for conservation status... & become the next Raffles or Link Hotel!

can do new devt with conservation property as centrepiece like citylights and tan chin tuan mansions or nco club. but FH and L99 can amalgate? diff owners also. NSSH is FH, right? Govt cannot sell FH land.

Another crazy thot. If NSSH site is Estate Fee Simple. Can Govt increase rent 1000000X to force them out?

can do new devt with conservation property as centrepiece like citylights and tan chin tuan mansions or nco club. but FH and L99 can amalgate? diff owners also.

Got $ anything can!


NSSH is FH, right? Govt cannot sell FH land.

Another crazy thot. If NSSH site is Estate Fee Simple. Can Govt increase rent 1000000X to force them out?

Estate Fee Simple means FH no? I think there all FH. So cannot!

Got $ anything can!



Estate Fee Simple means FH no? I think there all FH. So cannot!

Got $ also cannot lar. Only current PAP Govt can.

FH got many types. Statuory Land Grant. Estate Fee Simple. Got some more. Cannot remember already.
I read Estate Fee Simple need to pay nominal rent to Govt. Govt can jack it up if they want. Old-style PAP Govt may.
Now PAP relatively more 'user-friendly'.

Govt can only sell L99 land. Those land surrounding NSSH already acquired by Govt. See old photo at beginning of this thread.

Got $ also cannot lar. Only current PAP Govt can.

FH got many types. Statuory Land Grant. Estate Fee Simple. Got some more. Cannot remember already.
I read Estate Fee Simple need to pay nominal rent to Govt. Govt can jack it up if they want. Old-style PAP Govt may.
Now PAP relatively more 'user-friendly'.

Govt can only sell L99 land. Those land surrounding NSSH already acquired by Govt. See old photo at beginning of this thread.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=15395578&postcount=10
^^

Based on the Court judgement... I doubt they'll do that!

I don't mean convert L99 to FH... I mean L99 & Fh can amalgamate...

Only issue is once L99 portion is up... land reverts back to state.

Or owner (if still owned by 1 or the entire CSC) can apply to enbloc and redevelop into new development and top up another 99yrs ala Eng Cheong Twrs!!!

Therefore... got $...(TO TOP UP) CAN!

Some pics of this 1950s relic

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/nss1.jpg

The simple entrance

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/nss2.jpg

The building is used for advertising

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/nss3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/nss4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/rotpics03/nss5.jpg

Will URA take this building back?The plans for Bugis means this building might be an eye sore to some in URA.

URA plans for new developments and conserves...Of course what is worthy of conservation is very subjective. Maybe the new Masterplan might reveal better the plans for the area...

The land that is presently occupied by DHL balloon were shophouses.They were all cleared and not preserved.

URA website indicated that the hotel will be affected by the new Bugis MRT station

http://www.ura.gov.sg/pr/text/2008/pr08-69.html

Oh no...

NSSH death knell is expected.Just like the DHL balloon.Nothing is forever in SG.Our culture and heritage will also suffer the same fate.SG is no longer like it was before.Is it for good or bad.This is for the future of the next generations to decide.This is same as natural selection.Only the best survives.

sad that its end is soon...such a cute little building standing alone by itself....

Rochor Rd hotel makes way for Downtown Line

27 June 08

Acquisition to accommodate station structures, the authorities say

CONSTRUCTION on the Downtown Line (Stage 1) has begun. And the first casualty will be the New Seventh Storey Hotel in Rochor Road.

A joint statement from the Land Transport Authority, Singapore Land Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday said that the government intends to acquire the 38-room hotel to make way for the construction of the new underground station at Bugis.

'Due to engineering constraints which cannot be avoided, the land currently occupied by the New Seventh Storey Hotel and part of the adjacent state land fronting Rochor Road is required,' the statement said.

This is necessary to accommodate station structures and will also 'enable comprehensive redevelopment of the area'.

After the acquisition, the 55-year-old hotel's site will be amalgamated with an adjacent state site at North Bridge Road/Tan Queen Lan Street/Beach Road/Rochor Road. According to the draft Master Plan 2008, the parcel has a plot ratio of 4.2 and is zoned for both commercial and commercial/residential use.

No compensation figure for the hotel's operators - understood to be descendents of Wee Thiam Siew, who also owned the Ban Leong Group - has been revealed. The government will peg this to market value, according to the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.

An SLA spokesman said that an inquiry will be held, with input from the Chief Valuer to determine the market value.

Chesterton International senior executive director Chng Shih Hian said that the market value of the hotel will likely be based on the potential gross floor area of the site. He said that the recent tender price of $1,068.6 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for the nearby South Beach site in Beach Road could also be a factor in the valuation. But he noted that the Rochor Road site's attributes - and constraints - are different.

Savills Singapore director Ku Swee Yong believes that the parcel is potentially 'a very good site' because of its proximity to the new Beach Road/Ophir-Rochor corridor. Already, office space at nearby Parkview Square is being leased at about $14 psf, he said.


By ARTHUR SIM

Progress leaves us all in the dust
forego our history we must
memory serves no purpose
to not forget our past is my curse
as i walk through what was once my city
i have no recollection what stood in the vicinity

where once stood an earthly brick of knowledge found
a gaping chasm this emptiness that sits on the mound
in my soul my loss echoes this hole in the ground
where once we walked through the green fields that breathed
far as the eye could see leading to the sea
now my soul is trapped in the walls that won't let me leave

my flesh will be crushed it will be torn down
my spirit seeks the truth it does not falter
my testament will soon just be ghosts
whispers that remind us through faint reminders
of what once stood here it slips in and out
flickers and then it will be gone forever...

lwi
20080627

It's possible, it they really want to, to cut the building off its foundations and move it, as a whole on giant dollies, away from the site.

It's a small building, on flat ground, and it's most certainly possible, but I wonder if the expertise is available here. It had been done many times. Like in China they moved a hotel, the heaviest building to be moved. Another more famous one is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was few centuries old when it was moved around 1999. The worrying thing is the fact that the building is tilting.

Seriously, I hope this can be done. Conservation shouldn't just be purely about money. The more worrying problem is the apathy about our heritage sites and the "it's just a 1950s building", "its just another shophouse" mindset.

It's possible, it they really want to, to cut the building off its foundations and move it, as a whole on giant dollies, away from the site.

It's a small building, on flat ground, and it's most certainly possible, but I wonder if the expertise is available here. It had been done many times. Like in China they moved a hotel, the heaviest building to be moved. Another more famous one is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was few centuries old when it was moved around 1999. The worrying thing is the fact that the building is tilting.

Seriously, I hope this can be done. Conservation shouldn't just be purely about money. The more worrying problem is the apathy about our heritage sites and the "it's just a 1950s building", "its just another shophouse" mindset.


Is like asking Superman to do it.

Is like asking Superman to do it.

It's possible.

Perhaps the most well documented moving of a building:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/caha/lrp.htm

It's possible.

Perhaps the most well documented moving of a building:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/caha/lrp.htm


Finding the expertise to do it is not the problem.The most difficult is getting thru the gahment red tape.The owners I'm sure will die of vomit blood first.:ohno:

Finding the expertise to do it is not the problem.The most difficult is getting thru the gahment red tape.The owners I'm sure will die of vomit blood first.:ohno:

Save it for the sake of saving it, not for the sake of money.

Like they gave the reason of "not worth" to save Changi Prison

It may be too expensive to 'shift' the building. An alternative is to reconstruct it.

I have seen conservation buildings demolished and rebuilt , eg the Ee Hoe Hean Club at Bukit Pasoh.

Lau Pa Sat was temporarily dismantled when they were building the MRT in the 80s.

at first i think URA wants to conserve it, now technically it is tough to retain. :ohno:sad to hear another building going down again...

URA must reconcile its two opposing aims - conservation of heritage and facilitating future development. They seem to be at odds with each other.

As mentioned, it may be technically possible to do something about keeping the building, in one form or another, possibly with more public funds pumped in (the Downtown Line is a major public project, and the additional cost could just be a fraction of the overall cost), as the general public seem to be in favour of retaining the building.

Not every old building have to be conserve, does this look like one ? There is no design to speak of, just a rectangular block . its better to go for this one.

Creating islands of history in a sea of change

2 Aug 08

By Ooi Giok Ling, For The Straits Times

THE more things change, the more they become the same.
Globalisation has led to essentially the same 'glamour zones' springing up in major cities and in those aspiring to join their league. These are places for a city's wealthy and elite, who divide their time between restaurants, golf courses and brand-name stores, when they are not shuttling between the airport and their upmarket homes.

Despite their lack of individuality, these urban spaces flourish, perhaps because they reassure and comfort the professionals who cross borders to take up high-level jobs requiring their particular skills. After all, a move to the other side of the world would not be so bad if Prada, DKNY and Starbucks are there to meet you.

These universal, 'placeless' enclaves have taken root in cities competing to join the likes of New York, London, Frankfurt and Paris - global cities that commandeer a chunk of the global economy.

Yet we see much evidence too of resistance to cultural globalisation. Many have become conscious that the competitiveness of their cities depends not on becoming like every other city in the world but on recognising what makes the cities unique. They have come to realise that their cities can stay on the mental maps of international investors and businesses if they developed and conserved places important to their denizens.

So unlike the cities that have gone for super-expressways and iconic, ultra-modern buildings and airports, such cities seek recognition of their history and architectural heritage and a place in Unesco's list of World Heritage Sites.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is doing an admirable job putting Singapore on the global map through integrated transport systems. Yet after all the efforts to connect people to their destinations, will Singaporeans still have places that they want to go to? Though the LTA has made several bids at conservation, its tunnels and road-widening efforts have, nonetheless, erased spots meaningful to Singaporeans.

The latest to bite the demolition dust is the New Seventh Storey Hotel in Bugis. Both the LTA and Urban Redevelopment Authority have given sound explanations of why the hotel had to go but it was something that contributed to Singapore's urban identity. Unlikely to be found anywhere else, places like the hotel weave themselves into the story of a neighbourhood and help it stick in the collective memory of the city's residents.

Spots like these make us ask questions: How did the New Seventh Storey Hotel get its name? And why was it built in that particular neighbourhood rather than somewhere else? In seeking and finding the answers to such questions, we invest ourselves in the city where it is found.

Unique buildings also lend an identity to a particular road when we try to remember where it is and what it looks like. Much of the charm of the Champs-Elysees, for instance, lies in the places strung along its length - from the Arc de Triomphe to the Tuileries Gardens - as well as the history behind them.

And places that linger in our minds do more than help us visualise a road: They also enable us to see our past.

Many Singaporeans who have gone abroad for an extended period to work or study have lamented the disappearance of favourite haunts such as hawker centres or coffee shops when they return. Still others have expressed frustration that they can't show their children where Mum and Dad used to live or go to school; they can only indicate the general area. They may not even be able to point out the streets along which they walked to school if these have been cleared to make way for highways and so on.

We should never forget what centralised planning has done for Singaporeans. Public housing, neighbourhood conveniences, schools, polyclinics, public transport, parks, open spaces, city centres and such - it would be churlish to quibble about decisions to demolish the old to make way for such newer and better amenities.

Yet urban planning in the new millennium clearly must involve more than meeting our basic needs. It must take into account places that remind us of who we are.

Urban planning can be meaningful only if it encompasses diversity and absorbs the views of the citizens using these places.

By keeping this in mind, those responsible for shaping our landscape, such as the Singapore Land Authority, will be able to build a city that truly accommodates people and their need for places both new and historic.

Because, sometimes, the more things change, the more we need them to stay the same.

Nice "Think" piece. Thanks for the article, Raffi! :)