Atbara House is an historic house on Gallop Road in the
Singapore Botanic Gardens. It is often regarded as the first
Black and White House Black and white bungalows are white-painted bungalows, in a style once commonly used to house European colonial and expatriate families in tropical climate colonies, typically the Southeast Asian colonies of the British Empire in the nineteenth cent ...
in Singapore, despite it not actually being a black and white house.
History
The Atbara House was built in 1898 by
John Burkinshaw
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, who commissioned
Swan & MacLaren architect
Regent Alfred John Bidwell. The building was built on the land of the former Cluny Estate.
The building was named after the
Atbarah River.
Charles MacArthur, chairman of the
Straits Trading Company
The Straits Trading Company Limited is a Singapore-based corporation with operations in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as various localities in Asia and Australia.
Founded in 1887, the company was the result of a partnership for tin smelting be ...
, purchased the building from Burkinshaw in 1903. The building was sold to
W. Lowther Kemp in 1916. In 1923, the Straits Trading Company leased the building to the French government, who converted the building to an embassy in 1939.
The Singapore government acquired the Atbara House from the Straits Trading Company in 1990. Restoration works were carried out on both the Atbara House and the
Inverturret by the
Singapore Land Authority in 2012.
In 2015, it was announced that the house would be a part of the Gallop Extension of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
In 2016, the
National Parks Board awarded the tender of the Gallop Extension to Kay Ngee Tan Architects. The house, along with the rest of the extension, opened to the public on 13 March 2021. It now houses the Forest Discovery Centre @ OCBC Arboretum gallery.
The house was featured in a 2006 book, ''Black and White: The Singapore House, 1898–1941'', under the heading "Oldest Black and White House?". However, the heading of the section led to the misconception that the Atbara House was the first Black and White House in Singapore, despite it only being a "close relative" of the Black and White Houses.
References
{{Reflist
Buildings and structures in Singapore
1898 establishments in Singapore
19th-century architecture in Singapore