|
Stamford House () is a historic building located at the corner of the junction of Stamford Road and Hill Street, in the Downtown Core of Singapore. Originally known as Oranje Building (sometimes spelled ''Oranjie''), it currently houses a shopping mall. ==History== The building was built by Regent Alfred John Bidwell (1869–1918) of Swan and Maclaren in 1904, for Seth Paul a Singapore citizen of American extraction, for his tenant, retail firm Whiteaway Laidlaw & Co. Paul called the building Oranje Building, and Whiteaway Laidlaw carried out their business there until 1910.〔"Treasures from our old albums", The Straits Times, 9 May 1980.〕 Because of a shortage of hotel rooms, Raffles Hotel took over the top two floors of Oranje Building as an annexe for a number of years. In 1933, Seth's daughter Theodara Van Hein renovated the building and converted to become the Oranje Hotel.〔 Before the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in February 1942, a number of survivors of the ''Prince of Wales'' and the ''Repulse'' were housed in the Oranje Hotel. During the Japanese Occupation, the building continued to be used by the Japanese forces as a hotel. After World War II, the hotel rooms were rented out and ground floor of the building used as shops. In 1963, the building changed hands and was sold to Basco Enterprises Private Limited. It refurbished the building and renamed the building as Stamford House. Together with the adjacent Shaw Building, which housed the Capitol Theatre, the Stamford House was once a main shopping centre in Singapore. In 1984, the Stamford House, together with the Shaw Building, was acquired by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which imposed planning restrictions to preserve the building. In May 1991, a decision was made to forgo preserving the similarly rustic four-storey Eu Court and conserve Stamford House instead as the latter had more potential for commercial purposes.〔〔 Despite protests by the public, Eu Court was demolished in 1992 for road widening with the aim of easing future traffic congestion on Hill Street. Today, a new building, Stamford Court, is sited on a portion of the site of the former Eu Court building. The S$13 million conservation project for Stamford House was undertaken by the main contractor Batae Engineering, and took three years. The Stamford House was re-opened as a furniture and furnishings centre on 28 March 1995. The shopping mall has a rentable space of 3,350 square metres (36,000 square feet) over three floors, and was managed by Pidemco Land (now CapitaLand). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stamford House, Singapore」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|