The future of The Majestic

[RafflesCity]

Please don't turn The Majestic into foodcourt

5 Aug 07

By Nur Dianah Suhaimi





THE story of The Majestic is a tale of romance.
After the wife of businessman philanthropist Eu Tong Sen was turned away from an opera house, he built this one for her in 1927.

Now, the Chinatown landmark - once the grandest building there - faces a cold fate.

Cathay Realty put the three-storey conservation building up for sale last week for an expected $43 million and there are concerns about how buyers will redevelop it.

The Majestic is now a three-storey mish-mash of retail shops, yet pundits, architects and property consultants say it is not too late to save it.

Among their suggestions - a nightclub, boutique hotel, or just restoring it to its former glory.

Architectural writer Dinesh Naidu, who is concerned that the building would be turned into a foodcourt, said it would be 'better to convert it back into a theatre which people in the area can appreciate'.

Others see commercial potential in a boutique hotel like Hotel 1929 in Keong Siak Road or the Scarlet Hotel in Erskine Road.

As Colliers International's executive director (investment sales) Ho Eng Joo pointed out: 'Tourists love hotels with a traditional facade.'

But Mr Loh Lik Peng, who owns the boutique Hotel 1929 and the New Majestic Hotel, said it might do better as a nightspot. 'The Majestic building has no windows. For hotels, it is always nice to have rooms with a view.'

Still others feel it should be bought back by the Eu family, which runs traditional Chinese medicine firm Eu Yan Sang. After all, it was their patriarch who built it.

The late patriarch spared no expense on the opera house. He commissioned Swan and Maclaren - the same architectural firm for the original Raffles Hotel and Victoria Memorial Hall - who developed the clean lines that made it one of the first modern buildings here.

Said president of the Singapore Heritage Society Kevin Tan: 'Before that, there were only two types of buildings - shophouses or the traditional buildings with Corinthian columns.'

The Majestic, then known as 'Tin Yin Moh Toi' or the 'Tin Yin Dance Stage', quickly became the place to be seen for the Chinese elite.

'While the British colonial expats went to the Victoria Concert Hall, the rich Chinese towkays hung out at The Majestic,' said architectural history researcher Tan Kar Lin.

It calls to mind Chinatown's more glamorous heyday, an era gone by.

But the grandson of Mr Eu Tong Sen, Richard, told The Sunday Times that it would be unlikely for the family to buy back the building.

The group's chief executive said: 'We sold off the building in the 1950s. I don't think we will buy it back, not even for sentimental reasons.'

But his father, Dr Richard Eu, 84, has a clever compromise.

'The Majestic witnessed the various eras of Chinese entertainment. So it will be good if it becomes a museum showing the Chinese opera and theatre scene here in the 1930s and 1940s.'

[spikeshamz]

AS long as it is not turned into a food court, i would certainly agree, theatre, cabaret, nightclub, restaurant, boutique hotel, i am all up for it. Isn't the building had just gone a refurbishment and renovations recently.

[redstone]

As long as it's RESPECTED, I'm fine with it. The interior must be preserved. A not for profit museum is a best idea.

Like the old Fairfield Methodist school building attached to Police Cantonment Complex, it had been totally boarded up and used for god-knows-what. Very disrespectful to the old building.

[shao_ye]

Actually foodcourt to me is acceptable as it can surly bring in crowds I guess?

But one thing for such, please don't remove all the historic features found out and inside the building.

[RafflesCity]

I like the exterior details of the building, it has a very 'Chinatown' feel to it. In fact last year its facade was used a screen for laser projections. Anyway it would be crazy if the whole building was used as a food court.

[kopiluver]

Originally Posted by RafflesCity

I like the exterior details of the building, it has a very 'Chinatown' feel to it. In fact last year its facade was used a screen for laser projections. Anyway it would be crazy if the whole building was used as a food court.

Wish I could afford it... I remember some1 in the other thread proposed forming a joint investment to share a conservation shophouse...

Do you think if I could get a bank to finance 80% and the rest of Skyscraper City formed a consortium to buy it, and like the article on yesterday ST(2nd last page, can't seem to locate it... can some1 here help me post it?), turn it into a profitable five-in-one wellness centre?

1.TCM (Since Eu Yan Sang for it's own personal reason didn't want it)
2.Clinic, employing Sinseh's from our own Nation as well as China
3.Spa
4.Health tonic and foods restaurant
5.Hotel for the well-off to recuperate after doing surgery at our local hospitals - SGH, TTSH, AH, MEH, GH etc... a combination of East to compliment the western treatment they received... acupunture, tonic soups, foods, herbal juices(wines/cocktails?) massages, etc...

REnamed "MAJESTIC HEALTH & BEAUTY... health is wealth, beauty is happiness... so here's to HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS!!)

Where guest are given the royal treatment... so expect to pay a premium...

[redstone]

A disco's sound system is very powerful, and I don't know if the vibrations might be a danger the old building.

Sound proofing can be used, but that will cover up the ornamentations. And it's only open at night and for people who like to club, which some don't.

Or turn it into a Chinese cultural museum (we don't have that here!). A heritage building should be respected.

Like what happened to the old Fairfield Methodist school building at Neil Road?
All the verendahs and windows had been boarded and blocked out.

Or how the mansion House Of Tan Yeok Nee had an AUDITORIUM built into it's greatest hall.

[RafflesCity]

I'm sure some form of 'Eastern' therapy could be a hit, especially with tourists in this area.

Read that some similar concept is being proposed for the former Tang Village

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=418439