Caldwell House was a historical building designed and built by

George Drumgoole Coleman George Drumgoole Coleman (179527 March 1844), also known as George Drumgold Coleman, was an Irish civil architect who played an instrumental role in the design and construction of much of the civil infrastructure in early Singapore, after it wa ...

from 1840 to 1841 in Singapore. It was the oldest building of the

CHIJMES CHIJMES (pronounced "''chimes''", acronym definition: ''Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Middle Education School'') is a historic building complex in Singapore, which began life as a Catholic convent known as the ''Convent of the Holy Infant J ...

complex since 1854. It currently serves as a venue known as the Alcove at Caldwell House for wedding functions.

History

The house was one of the architecture designs of the Irish civil architect

in Singapore, it was built from 1840 to 1841 for H. C. Caldwell, a senior clerk to the Magistrates in Singapore. In August 1852, Father

Jean-Marie Beurel Reverend Father Jean-Marie Beurel (5 February 1813 - 3 October 1872) was a French Catholic priest and missionary who founded the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the St Joseph’s Institution and the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus girls' schoo ...

purchased the house for the

Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus The Sisters of the Infant Jesus, also known as the Dames of Saint Maur, are a religious institute of the Catholic Church originating from Paris, France and dedicated to teaching. History Origins In 1659 Barré, who was a respected scholar wit ...

on his own expense of 4,000

franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...

s. This formed the beginning of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Singapore. Beurel had initially gone to France in 1851 to recruit four sisters as teachers, but due to various causes there was only one left, so it was not possible to start a school. On 5 February 1854, the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus Reverend Mother

Mathilde Raclot Reverend Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot (born Marie-Justine Raclot; 9 February 1814 – 20 January 1911) was a 19th-century French people, French Catholic nun and missionary from the Sisters of the Infant Jesus who traveled to different countries in ...

and her three companions, Mother Appollinaire, Mother Gaetan Gervais and Sister Gregory Connolly, made the house their residence soon after they reaching Singapore from Penang. Two weeks after their arrival, the sisters would commenced lessons for two classes of students despite the initial austere living conditions. One for fee-paying students and another for orphans and the poor. The house was also used as the nuns’ workroom where the nuns would did their sewing, reading and writing in the semi-circular upstairs room. The school would later be referred to colloquially as the “Town Convent”, soon expanded and became known for providing education of a good standard.

Expansion of Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus

In 1855, the convent acquired the house adjacent to the Caldwell House as a Convent Orphanage known as Home for Abandoned Babies for children who were unwanted, came from poor or broken homes, or abandoned due to superstitious beliefs. The First Chapel of the convent was built and consecrated in 1855. Over the years, the convent had steadily acquired adjacent plots of land that would become part of the growing school and complex. The Convent also bought land that belonged to

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

in 1860. Father

had since acquired all the nine lots of land that would constitute the entire convent complex and presented them to Reverend Mother Mathilde. In 1892, a boarding house was built on the Stamford Road side of the complex with contributions from the government and wealthy benefactors. The Sisters soon started fund-raising by various means for the new chapel, as the old one had become hazardous that the Sisters had to celebrate

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

at the Caldwell House. In 1898, a new

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was completed in 1903 and consecrated on 11 June 1904. In October 1933, the convent acquired the four bungalows of the former

Hotel van Wijk A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

on the adjacent to the convent site, would become Victoria Girls’ School and later renamed as

Saint Nicholas Girls' School CHIJMES (pronounced "''chimes''", acronym definition: ''Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Middle Education School'') is a historic building complex in Singapore, which began life as a Roman Catholic Church, Catholic convent known as the ''Conve ...

, which served as the girls' school through the

Japanese Occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Japanese military forces occupied it after ...

until in 1949, when one of the bungalows' room collapsed. The bungalows were subsequently deemed unsafe and demolished in 1950. The new 3 storey building blocks designed by

Swan & Maclaren Swan & Maclaren Architects is a Singaporean architectural and industrial design firm. One of the oldest architectural firms in the country, it was formerly known as Swan & Maclaren and Swan & Lermit, and was one of the most prominent architectur ...

was later built on the former site and completed by 1951. In 1983, the

Singapore Government The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise o ...

acquired the land from the convent and the schools were allocated a new site in Toa Payoh. On 3 November 1983, the

was held in the chapel for last time before it was deconsecrated for non-religious use. By December 1983, both primary and secondary schools had vacated the site and moved to their new premises in Toa Payoh, where they began operations in the following year. Part of the former schools was demolished in 1984, one of its existing blocks was incorporated in part of the

SMRT Headquarters Building SMRT Corporation is a multi-modal public transport operator in Singapore operating bus and rail services. A subsidiary of the Government of Singapore's Temasek Holdings, it was established on 6 August 1987 and listed on the Singapore Exchange ...

which was later built on its former site.

Restoration

The

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. Mission The authority was established on 1 Apri ...

put up the site for sale in March 1990 and gazetted the Caldwell House and the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Chapel as national monuments on 26 October 1990 to preserve the ambience of the remaining buildings and designated the entire complex as a conservation area, with high restoration standards and strict usage guidelines. The Caldwell House, the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Chapel and the remaining school building blocks soon underwent extensive restoration works in 1991, the complex was reopened in 1996 as

. The Caldwell House, also known as Alcove at Caldwell House, currently served as a venue for wedding functions since then. The Grand Gallery on level 2, renamed as The Alcove, was managed by Watabe Wedding Singapore. On 27 January 2016, an Australian restaurant Whitegrass was opened on the ground floor of the building. The restaurant was subsequently awarded a Michelin star in the 2017 Singapore edition of the

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

References

External links

CHIJMES website
{{Authority control Tourist attractions in Singapore Houses in Singapore Landmarks in Singapore National monuments of Singapore Religious buildings and structures completed in 1841 Downtown Core (Singapore) UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards winners