The Maris Stella Archway

As Bidadari town earnestly comes up in the area around Upper Serangoon Road, Upper Aljunied Road, and Bartley Road, no existing landmark is safe.

The latest victim: A 24-year-old school archway.

The iconic Maris Stella High School gate will be demolished but a new archway, slated to be completed by the end of the year, will be built using parts of the old gate with the original look retained.

The gate has to be removed from its current location in Mount Vernon Road as the road has to be widened to serve residents of an upcoming housing development in Bidadari estate, said the Housing Board in a statement on May 15.

The new gate will be located in Bartley Walk.

In a Facebook post the same day, Minister of State for National Development Tan Kiat How said that HDB has been in talks with the school management on ways to preserve the gate since 2018.

The option of relocating the whole gate was discussed but engineers assessed that doing so would risk damaging the gate and pose a safety risk to students.

Mr Tan said: “HDB intends to incorporate as much of the old gate into the new, such as the iconic blue tiles and possibly the plaque that carries the school’s name.”

The decision comes amid a petition to save the original gate. The campaign on Change.org has garnered more than 5,000 signatures since it was started on Thursday.

The petition was launched the day after Maris Stella High School announced that the gate, built in 1997, will be demolished after May 31.

The school’s alumni told The Straits Times that the gate’s unique structure incorporates East and West design elements that are unlike those commonly found in other Catholic schools.

HDB on Saturday said part of the driveway into the school compound had to be acquired to improve traffic flow in Mount Vernon Road for residents of an upcoming Bidadari estate.

ST understands that a Build-To-Order project - Bartley Beacon - has been planned for a site next to Maris Stella High School.

Announced last year, the project will include 880 flats comprising three-room, four-room and five-room units.

In its statement, HDB acknowledged that the school’s alumni and members of the public had asked if the gate can be preserved or replicated.

It said that Maris Stella’s alumni association will develop a digital replica of the design of the existing gate and incorporate it into the new gate.

“We will continue to work with the school and the alumni association on the design and construction of the new gate within the school compound,” said HDB.

The archway along Mount Vernon Road, which I visited five days before its removal.

The philosophical question of the month: If a historic landmark is demolished, and a replacement is constructed using parts of the original landmark with the original look retained... is it still heritage conservation?

Anyway...

Another notable urban and transport development: The archway has to make way for the widening of Mount Vernon Road, which was laid down sometime between 1956 and 1958. All this while, the road has been a single-lane dual carriageway. This status of at least 63 years will change this year, to serve the flats of Bidadari coming up around it.

The 1958 street directory showing Mount Vernon Road. The road’s length and alignment have largely remained the same all this while.

Mount Vernon Road.

Goodbye trees...

Sailing by Maritime House

A slice of urban and maritime history in the Cantonment Road area will soon be lost to urban renewal.

The Maritime House building in Cantonment Road, known as a hotel exclusively for seafarers transiting through Singapore, will be torn down and redeveloped by late 2024, according to tender documents put up by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

A project brief in the tender, which closes on April 23, estimates $30 million in construction costs for the revamp. The redeveloped Maritime House will continue providing accommodation for seafarers as well as be a one-stop venue for international training, research and forums...

Maritime House housed the head office of the former National Maritime Board from 1984 till 1996, when the board merged with other government departments to form MPA.

According to the tender, the 15-storey building’s gross plot ratio is set to increase from 2.75 to 3.5. Values above 2.8 indicate the potential for a very high-density development, to be built to above 36 storeys.

“MPA’s preliminary plan is to increase the floor space of Maritime House by about 30 per cent in order to better serve the accommodation needs of seafarers and to set aside space in the building for complementary use such as training,” a spokesman said...

This expansion will cater for about 2,160 sq m of amenities, 1,030 sq m of office space and 190 hotel rooms, up from the current 46...

Besides accommodation for seafarers, the building currently also houses Mariners' Corner, a Hainanese Western restaurant founded in 1984, along with a clinic, lounge, gym, student enrichment centre and the Singapore Maritime Foundation.

With perhaps three years left before demolition, we recently visited Maritime House for a closer look.

The 37-year-old, 15-storey pink and white landmark.

The lobby was small and nondescript, and we could wander around the ground floor without being stopped by security.

The ground floor was mainly occupied by the Singapore Mariners’ Club general office and the Seafarers’ Lounge (both with restricted access), and the Mariners’ Corner Restaurant.

Apparently, the restaurant’s very popular, with its rustic decor and good food. We were foolish not to enquire about making a reservation before turning up, but a kind waiter squeezed a table for us.

The restaurant also has a sense of humour, too!

I had the chicken cutlet set meal, which came with a salad, soup, dessert, and coffee - way too much for a Saturday brunch!

We had an excellent lunch and I hope the restaurant has a spot in the future building rising on this site.

After lunch, we decided to take the lift and explore the rest of the building.

The second floor was occupied by the Singapore Maritime Foundation, the Maritime Dental Surgery, and two medical centres.

The ceiling was remarkably low - I could easily reach it, and I’m not exactly very tall.

The 5th to the 12th floors were serviced apartments for seafarers. The corridors were narrow and spartan, reminiscent of an austere past where practicality overruled opulence. I wondered what the rooms looked like.

There was a Maritime Lounge on the 12th floor, but the doors were locked. All was deathly quiet.

This was when our exploration came to an abrupt end. A cleaner had spotted us earlier; she must have reported us to security, because an officer appeared and politely asked us to leave. Apparently, the serviced apartment levels were not open to public access. We had not seen any signs informing us of this, and one was free to take the lift up to any floor, but we had seen almost all floors by now, so we decided to make a graceful retreat.

The neighbouring HDB block, 4 Everton Park, offers a good view of Maritime House.

We’ll be back! For the restaurant, of course.

The skyscrapers of Shenton Way

Recently, I met a friend for lunch along Shenton Way, a major thoroughfare inside Singapore’s Central Business District. It was named in 1951 after Governor Sir Shenton Thomas.

Shenton Way, facing north.

Facing south.

At first, Shenton Way was a coastal road with few landmarks, and the largest structure in the area was the iconic octagonal Telok Ayer Market, known today as Lau Pa Sat. The area in 1956:

Base picture credit: National Archives Singapore.

In the 1970s, the stretch between Boon Tat Street and Maxwell Road became the freshly-independent city-state’s newest commerce belt.

From a 1972 New Nation article:

In Shenton Way where there is now a building spree, five towering commercial complexes are being built at a total cost of about $100 million.

There are the $45 million 50-storey Development Bank of Singapore building, the $23 million 36-storey United Industrial Corporation building, the $15 million 26-storey Robina House, the $12 million 24-storey Shenton House and the $10 million 18-storey Shing (Kwan) House.

These multi-storey office-shopping complexes are scheduled for completion within the next two years.

In all, six high-rise buildings came up on either side of the aforementioned stretch of Shenton Way:

1. Robina House, 26 storeys, completed 1971.

2. Shenton House, 24 storeys, completed 1973.

3. UIC Building, 36 storeys, completed 1973.

4. Shing Kwan House, 18 storeys, completed 1973.

5. ICB Building, 10 storeys, completed 1974.

6. DBS Building, 50 storeys, completed 1975.

A second 36-storey tower, Tower 2, was completed next to the original tower in 1994.

Base picture credit: Singapore Press Holdings.

Shenton Way in the 1970s with its six skyscrapers, Robina House on the left.

The new skyline of Shenton Way in 1976.

Credit: Singapore Film Locations Archive.

In the Central Business District, where buildings are mostly owned, purchased, and sold by private organisations for commercial reasons, urban renewal happens at breakneck speed. Barely 50 years into Shenton Way’s life as a commerce belt, five of the six buildings above have either been torn down and redeveloped, or renamed and revamped.

1. Robina House - demolished 2007.

Replaced by One Shenton Way (comprising Tower 1 at 50 storeys, and Tower 2 at 42 storeys), completed 2011 (below).

Credit: Someformofhuman, CC BY-SA 3.0.

2. Shenton House - still stands to this day.

3. UIC Building - demolished 2013.

Replaced by V on Shenton (comprising a 54-storey residential tower and a 23-storey office tower), completed 2017.

UIC Building in 2009.

Credit: Nlannuzel, CC BY-SA 3.0.

V on Shenton.

Credit: UNStudio.

4. Shing Kwan House - demolished 1997.

Replaced by SGX Centre (two 30-storey towers), completed 2000 and 2001.

Credit: United Industrial Corporation Limited.

5. ICB Building - demolished 1997.

Replaced by SGX Centre.

6. DBS Building - renamed and revamped as OUE Downtown in 2010. It has a shopping mall named Downtown Gallery.

Credit: SCDA Architects.

The 21st-century Shenton Way.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

Today, Shenton House stands out with its 1970s Brutalist architecture amidst newer glass and steel facades. I fear for its future. With just 47 years to run on its 99-year lease, it may go the way of many commercial buildings in Singapore - sale and demolition.

Credit: Google Maps.