Monochrome - Capitol Theatre revisited

Sepia tinged Capitol Theatre, standing disused in a corner.

When will a suitor come along and reinvent this old thing?

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Stamford House

I was walking past this building today and looking up, noted its age, 1904 inscribed on its curved central pediment. If you click to enlarge, you can see it for yourself. I think the building looks spectacular. Its ornate friezes in the style of Victorian Renaissance architecture seems almost surreal in contrast with other modern prosaic buildings near it. The building has been gorgeously restored in the early 90s.
It's just a hop and a skip from City Hall MRT. If you dip into the building, you'll enjoy walking on its tropical hardwood chengai lining its interior flooring which has replaced the old rotten floorboards, and skylight that filter into its central arcade, not to mention the cool airconditioning. Its mix of tenants leans towards interior furnishings and art.

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MICA Building

It's referred to as the building with the colourful windows. 911 windows, in all. Home to the Ministry of the Information, Communications and the Arts (abbreviated MICA), it is now called the MICA building. Formerly it was the Hill Street Police Station. Built in 1934, this colonial building at Hill Street occupied the site of Singapore's first prison and the old Assembly Rooms of the Town Hall. When it first opened, it housed a police station with a charge room, offices and garages as well as living quarters for policemen.

In my childhood we used to pass by the building after our weekly gathering at grandma's in the dark of night, and whenever we pass by it we will say 'There, there, the haunted building' and get all spooked. Civil servants who work there have their stories to tell.

After renovations in 2000 to relaunch it for MICA, its windows were painted in rainbow colours. It has a huge internal courtyard with a glass roof which is a space for art exhibitions and house art galleries, sculptures and a cafe.

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Capitol Theatre

Before today's multiplex cinemas housed in shopping malls, there's the Capitol Theatre, built in 1929 by a Persian family, the Namazie brothers. It was a lofty colossal single cinema hall with two storeys providing 1686 seats and feature a large screen. The grandeur of its neo-classical architecture made it a total cinematic experience, however. The building was bought over by Shaw Organisation in 1946 and the theatre became its flagship. Before it screened its last Hollywood movie, Soldier, starring Kurt Russell, on 29 December 1998, many Singaporeans, myself included, watched dozens of movies here on dates with friends. The milkshakes at Magnolia Snack Bar were popular with cinema goers.


Here's a vintage photo of Capitol Theatre in its heyday. You can see a trishaw rider on the left and the cars look really vintage.

The future development of the building, now called Capitol Building, is yet to be decided.

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Beaulieu House

It's a colonial house that's up on a hillock...
Facade of the Beaulieu House, first built as a seaside house in 1910 for a David family. Then erstwhile house of Admiral Layton, the most senior British Naval Officer in Singapore, from 1940 to 1942, who was known to host tennis parties near the house. Postwar, Senior Fleet Officers like the Chief of Staff resided here, who returned the salute to passing ships at the Sembawang Jetty just in front of the house. The building has been gazetted for conservation and now serves as a laidback seaside restaurant.

Close up view of wrought iron decorative balustrade.

Here, you see it is nestled amidst the Sembawang Park, next to the Sembawang beach. Sembawang was the site of a formal British naval base which opened in 1938. During the war, the Japanese used the naval base to repair their ships. From 1968 the base was converted for use as the Sembawang Shipyard.

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Yue Hwa Chinese emporium

The building on the right is the Yue Hwa Chinese Emporium in Chinatown. It's beside The Majestic building (I blogged about that building earlier so you may read if you wish). Its merchandise are all Chinese products including ointment, an assortment of Chinese tea leaves, Chinese wines, Chinese embroidery, etc. Frankly Chinese emporiums have become quite rare and arcane and seem to be going the way of the dinosaur, since the draw is to contemporary, swanky Western brands. So a trip to Yue Hwa is either a touristy or a nostalgic jaunt for Chinese souvenirs.
Its history is something to crow about. Built in 1936, it was formerly the Great Southern Hotel, a magnet for Chinese tycoons who kept mistresses. It served as a brothel and opium den. Then the tallest Chinese-run hotel and the first to be outfitted with a lift, it was the place to party for the Chinese upper classes.

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