Waterboat House Garden is a small park located near the mouth of the Singapore River, near the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

(CBD) in Singapore. The park was once the original site of the former Merlion Park where the two iconic statues of the

Merlion The Merlion () is the official mascot of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to repre ...

and its miniature form were originally located.

History

Launch

The first Merlion Park was originally located near the mouth of the Singapore River was designed by the Singapore Tourism Board as an emblem of Singapore in 1964. The park was officially opened at an installation ceremony for the

statue, officiated at by then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew on 15 September 1972. The original statues of the Merlion and its mininature used to stand at the mouth of the Singapore River with Anderson Bridge as its background. The main statue was made from November 1971 to August 1972 by the late Singaporean sculptor, Mr

Lim Nang Seng Lim Nang Seng (1917 - 17 November 1987) was a Singaporean sculptor. He sculpted the Merlion statue in Merlion Park. Biography Lim was born in 1917 in Singapore. Lim originally worked as a schoolteacher. Sculpting initially began as a hobby of his, ...

. It measures 8.6 meters high and weighs 70 tons.Singapore National Library Board: Singapore Infopedia: "Merlion Statue" <>

Relocation of the Merlion Statue

Due to the completion of the

Esplanade Bridge The Esplanade Bridge is a 261-metre-long (850 ft.) road bridge that spans across the mouth of the Singapore River in Singapore with the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay on its northern abutment and the Merlion on the southern.G. Chandradas, ...

in 1997, the statue could no longer be viewed clearly from the Marina Bay Waterfront."A new home for the Merlion". URAbr>''Skyline'' (July/August 2000)
. p. 6–8 On 23 April 2002, the Merlion statue and its mininature statue were relocated from its original location to a new pier specially built on the other side of The Esplanade Bridge adjacent to the

One Fullerton 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

hotel, which was completed on 25 April 2002. The new

Merlion Park Merlion Park ( ms, Taman Merlion, zh, 鱼尾狮公园, ta, மெர்லயன் பூங்கா) is a famous Singapore landmark and a major tourist attraction, located at One Fullerton, Singapore, near the Central Business District ( ...

, which is four times bigger than the original site, had officially been opened since then

Present

The site of former Merlion Park had since being renamed as the Waterboat House Garden, so named from the nearby historical building

Waterboat House The Fullerton Waterboat House, originally known as the Water House, is a historic water supply house formerly used to supply fresh water to incoming ships in Singapore. The former Water House was gazetted for conservation in 2002 and has since re ...

, the renovated Water House which was built in 1919.

References

{{Parks in Singapore Parks in Singapore Gardens in Singapore Places in Singapore

History

Launch

Relocation of the Merlion Statue

Present

See also

References