The Jinrikisha Station is a historic building in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and is located in

Tanjong Pagar Tanjong Pagar ( alternatively spelled ''Tanjung Pagar'') is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's urb ...

in the Chinatown district within the Singapore's

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 ...

History

At one time the Jinrikisha Station was used as a family planning clinic. In 1987 it was one of the first buildings in Tanjong Pagar restored by 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 ...

(URA). It was refurbished into a shopping and recreational centre. There are a seafood restaurant, shops, offices and nightclubs in the present building. https://remembersingapore.org/jinrikisha-station/

Architecture

Samuel Tomlinson was Municipal Engineer from 1896 to 1902, during which time D.M. Craik was Municipal Architect. The date on the Jinrikisha Station building responds well to the triangular corner site and is typical of many other ornate buildings of the early 1900s. However, originally, the building had exposed

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...

, now painted, and this must have been somewhat unusual at the time. The Ionic

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and curved

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

on the corner and the square tower with its octagonal

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

are pleasing and important elements of Tanjong Pagar Road and surroundings.

Notes

*National Heritage Board (2002), ''Singapore's 100 Historic Places'', Archipelago Press, *Norman Edwards, Peter Keys (1996), ''Singapore - A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places'', Times Books International, Road transport in Singapore {{singapore-geo-stub