Mansions & Villas 2

[RafflesCity]

Another villa at the Malay Heritage Centre

[redstone]

I think this was the bendahara's residence.

[Maverick713]

Originally Posted by redstone

I think this was the bendahara's residence.

I think it is now a restaurant for Malay cuisine.

[redstone]

The decedents were made to leave in the 1990s. I still remember it being a private house, along with the Istana when I visited it in primary school.

[RafflesCity]

I've seen parties being held there at night, I think it is a popular place for weddings...

[RafflesCity]

Silent star of Singapore

13 Aug 08

Restored colonial bungalow is the PM's official residence but none of them has lived there



THE Prime Minister has an official residence at the Istana?

Sri Temasek, a just-restored colonial bungalow in the Istana domain, has piqued curiosity since Mr Lee Hsien Loong delivered his National Day message there last Friday.

Built in 1869 for the then-colony secretary, it remains today the official residence of the Singapore prime minister.

But none of the three PMs - Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Goh Chok Tong or Mr Lee Hsien Loong - has made it his home.

Instead, Sri Temasek stars silently at official functions and tells the story of Singapore's early diplomatic life.

Foreign leaders near and far were hosted on its intimate premises, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s.

Among them was 'the Father of Malaysia', the late Tunku Abdul Rahman.

The late Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi dropped in too, as did Jordan's King Hussein and US Vice-President Spiro Agnew in the Nixon days.

Lord Denis Healey, the defence secretary who announced the 1968 British troop withdrawal from Singapore, was pictured there wielding chopsticks at a small dinner while then-PM Lee Kuan Yew looked on, bemused.

In 1962, Mr Lee hosted a party to thank trade unionists and civil servants for their help with the referendum on Singapore's merger with Malaysia.

In 1983, the body of the late finance minister Hon Sui Sen lay in state for a couple of days at the stately two-storey building for people to pay their last respects.

The bungalow was built by Major J. F. A. McNair, a civil engineer who also had a hand in the soaring Gothic design of St Andrew's Cathedral.

Designed in an East-West style, the red-roofed Sri Temasek is 1,600 sq m, and distinguished by arches.

For some years, the national monument fell into disrepair and was not used.

It was mostly restored this March, and will be used for small state functions.

The Straits Times viewed Sri Temasek yesterday with architects from CPG Consultants, the firm restoring it.

Senior architect Maureen Soh highlighted the Western symmetry in its layout.

Eastern elements are present in the Malay eaves. Carved Chinese 'breeze blocks' with cut-out designs set into the wrap-around verandas let in lots of fresh air.

The 2m-wide verandas shade people from the brutal tropical sun.

Said Ms Soh, who first saw Sri Temasek in 2004: 'It was rundown. But I felt more for the building as I worked on it.

'It is a simple building but has special features such as tiers of arches and columns,' she added.

Set serenely on a knoll, Sri Temasek overlooks lush gardens, and there are glimpses of the city skyline.

In the 1998 book, The Man And His Ideas, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is reported saying that his three children were seven, five and two when he became PM in 1959. He and his wife Kwa Geok Choo decided not to move into Sri Temasek.

He said: 'We did not want them to grow up in such grand surroundings with butlers and orderlies to fuss over their needs.'

The family stayed there only briefly in 1965 - for security reasons, amid the turmoil of Singapore's separation from Malaysia.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong too decided not to make Sri Temasek his home when he became PM in 2004.

Still, the family would have fond memories of the grounds.

The three children ran around in the evening, 'while Kuan Yew played golf or practised on the practice tee and the putting green', Madam Kwa said in a Straits Times interview in 2000.

These unspoken historical and personal reasons may have prompted the choice of Sri Temasek as the setting for this year's National Day message.


By Lee Siew Hua
Straits Times





Sri Temasek tells the story of Singapore's early diplomatic history. Among the foreign leaders hosted there by then-PM Lee Kuan Yew were Malaysia's Tunku Abdul Rahman (above), India's Indira Gandhi (next picture) and Britain's Denis Healey (next two pictures). Other leaders who visited included Jordon's King Hussein and US Vice-President Spiro Agnew.

[OshHisham]

ohh...so this is the Sri Temasek, LKY mentioned about this house in his The Singapore Story many times...

so, what it would be? a boutique hotel?

[redstone]

It's still officially the official residence of the PM. You could go to www.istana.gov.sg

[spikeshamz]

Of course it will not be a boutique hotel. It is in the Istana compound. DUH!

[RafflesCity]

Yeah...but there are examples of former mansions turned hotels. One is that Malay-style villa in Labrador Park. Another upcoming one would be a small cluster of black-and-white bungalows at scenic Bukit Chermin. I think the former Mitre Hotel was one. Also there is one mansion at Mountbatten Road.

[RafflesCity]

A mansion along Wilkie Road. It looks freshly painted.

[RafflesCity]

A foreboding presence near the top of Wilkie Terrace

[SEAfan]

Thanks as always for the new photos, Raffi!

While the mansion on Wilkie Road looks fine (a bit close to its less handsome neighbor to the right though), the same can't be said of the place on Wilkie Terrace, which I would imagine to be somewhere in the vicinity of Wilkie Road. I mean the house itself looks fairly OK, but what about that horrid looking wall? Is the neighborhood so bad that it is needed?

[RafflesCity]

Originally Posted by SEAfan

Is the neighborhood so bad that it is needed?

LOL...these are very much new discoveries for me. What I can say is that that section of the road feels quite run-down, with an abandoned single shophouse unit next to it. This in the midst of numerous construction activities nearby. The effect is unsettling. I doubt either of these mansions have conservation status though..especially the first one with a ghastly alteration to its frontage

Hopefully the owners see the merit in applying for conservation. and yes, theyre in the same area

[redstone]

Originally Posted by SEAfan

Thanks as always for the new photos, Raffi!

While the mansion on Wilkie Road looks fine (a bit close to its less handsome neighbor to the right though), the same can't be said of the place on Wilkie Terrace, which I would imagine to be somewhere in the vicinity of Wilkie Road. I mean the house itself looks fairly OK, but what about that horrid looking wall? Is the neighborhood so bad that it is needed?

It's a retaining wall, as the building is built on a slope with the road way below the highest point of the plot.

[spikeshamz]

Originally Posted by SEAfan

Thanks as always for the new photos, Raffi!

While the mansion on Wilkie Road looks fine (a bit close to its less handsome neighbor to the right though), the same can't be said of the place on Wilkie Terrace, which I would imagine to be somewhere in the vicinity of Wilkie Road. I mean the house itself looks fairly OK, but what about that horrid looking wall? Is the neighborhood so bad that it is needed?

Even though it is a retaining wall, i guess more can be done to beautify it. once the building has been repainted, maybe even the wall could have been removed and instead have a Stepping Mansion/ Villa/ building. Whatever you can call them. Other methods will be how about Having a mirage waterfall build on the wall or even a vertical garden. Although it all depends on what purpose the villa is going to be use for? Hotel, education, personal, Clubhouse or restaurant?

[RafflesCity]

Originally Posted by spikeshamz

Even though it is a retaining wall, i guess more can be done to beautify it. once the building has been repainted, maybe even the wall could have been removed and instead have a Stepping Mansion/ Villa/ building. Whatever you can call them. Other methods will be how about Having a mirage waterfall build on the wall or even a vertical garden. Although it all depends on what purpose the villa is going to be use for? Hotel, education, personal, Clubhouse or restaurant?

I believe the Alkaff Mansion likewise has a retaining wall structure as its located on top of a hillock. There are stairs carved into the slope leading up to the mansion. Can be quite charming.

[spikeshamz]

yeah, certainly true. Anyway, slopping or terrace houses creates a natural landscape to an area.

[RafflesCity]

All-new Sun Yat Sen Hall reopens

16 Nov 08



With new exhibits and a $1.2 million renovation, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in Balestier reopened yesterday.

The historic 128-year-old house-turned-museum was closed for repairs 18 months ago, in May last year.

Its foundation was strengthened and the cracks on its walls patched.

The repairs were necessary to stop the foundation from sinking. Cracks on the walls were also spotted in late 2005, just four years after a major $7.5 million facelift in 2001, when the two-storey building took on its present name.

Built in the 1880s, it was previously known as Wan Qing Yuan, and earlier as Bin Chan House. Its present owner is the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI).

Mr Chia Ban Seng, SCCCI's vice-president and chairman of the memorial hall, told The Sunday Times the management board decided to update and improve on the exhibits while waiting for the repairs to be done.

Some new exhibits - showcasing the revolutionary activities of Dr Sun Yat Sen in South-east Asia, or Nanyang, before he ended 267 years of Qing dynasty rule and founded the Chinese republic in 1911 - have been added. Some exhibits were replaced.

Since the repairs needed time, some duplication of the exhibits and displays in the six galleries were undertaken.

A seven-member advisory panel comprising Chinese newspaper executives, historians and museum curators was formed earlier this year for the task.

Among them was Mr Toh Lam Huat, 56, supervising editor of Shin Min Daily News and Lianhe Wanbao, who said major changes were made to the ground level's entrance area which has been renamed Time Gallery, from Hall of Peace previously.

'The emphasis there is the history of the house-turned-museum where Dr Sun Yat Sen once lived, when he visited Singapore in the early 1900s, and its contributions to the success of his revolution,' he explained.

Most of the exhibits in the other areas, including a set of wax figures of Dr Sun and members of his revolutionary group at a meeting in the house, and a 6m-by-3m oil painting showing Dr Sun speaking to tin miners and rubber plantation workers at Kampar in the Kinta Valley in Perak, Malaysia, are intact.

SCCCI president and the memorial hall's adviser, Mr Chua Thian Poh, 60, said the chamber is funding the hall's operating expenses, estimated at $400,000 annually, besides spending more than $1 million on the recent repairs.

'We hope that the National Heritage Board could help by providing both financial and management support in future,' he said.

He hoped that with the memorial hall's reopening, the Ministry of Education would make visits by students part of the national education programme because of the site's significance to the history of modern China.

The SCCCI has yet to find a replacement for Mr Foong Choon Hon, 80, the museum's first director, who retired at the end of 2005.

'We are still looking, but no one suitable has responded yet,' said Mr Chua.

By Leong Weng Kam
Straits Times

[SaigonDep]

Hi,

What is going on with Mitre Hotel? Nothing has been happening there for months appart from a bit of tree puining...


I love this place, I wish they could conserve it!