Swan & Maclaren Architects is a
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, bor ...
an
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 architectural firms in Singapore when it was a
crown colony during the early 20th century.
Headquartered in Telok Ayer of the
Outram district, the firm has continued to design numerous projects in contemporary Singapore. The company also has multinational offices in various countries around Asia.
History
Early history
The company began 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, bor ...
,
Straits Settlements as Swan & Lermit in 1887, a civil engineering firm formed by two
surveyor engineers
Archibald Alexander Swan(1857–1911) and Alfred Lermit. Lermit later withdrew from partnership in 1890, and later in 1892, it became Swan & Maclaren after another surveyor engineer, James Waddell Boyd Maclaren, joined as partner.
Rise to prominence
![Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall 7, Jan 06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Victoria_Theatre_and_Concert_Hall_7%2C_Jan_06.JPG)
In 1897,
Regent Alfred John Bidwell
Regent Alfred John Bidwell, or R. A. J. Bidwell, was an English-born architect noted for his colonial era buildings in Singapore. His best-known works include the Raffles Hotel and the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall in Singapore, and Sultan A ...
joined the firm, arriving in Singapore from England after a short working stint at the Public Works Department in
Kuala Lumpur
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of the
Federated Malay States. He was the first professionally trained architect in Singapore since
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 w ...
had practised in the town in the 1820s and 1830s. Bidwell found an opportunity in Singapore to exercise his knowledge of the full range and variety of Western architectural vocabulary.
Because of Bidwell's talent and reputation for designing handsome government buildings, Swan and Maclaren became the dominant architectural firm in colonial Singapore. Bidwell dominated its work between 1897 and 1911. The firm proceeded to win the most prestigious commissions in Singapore, and many of its early buildings are still extant today. Some of these buildings have been gazetted as
national monuments, and these include
Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel is a British colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern S ...
(1899), Teutonia Club (1900, now
Goodwood Park Hotel
The Goodwood Park Hotel ( Chinese: 良木园酒店) is a heritage hotel in Singapore, situated in a 6-hectare landscaped garden on Scotts Road. It was first built as the club house for the Teutonic Club serving the expatriate German community ...
) and Victoria Memorial Hall (1905, now
Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall
The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall is a performing arts centre in the Central Area of Singapore, situated along Empress Place. It is a complex of two buildings and a clock tower joined together by a common corridor; the oldest part of the ...
).
The Raffles Hotel was one of the first of the numerous projects by Bidwell under Swan and Maclaren, which was to build a substantial number of buildings in a large variety of
architectural style
An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...
s. The firm was commissioned to rebuild the Teutonia Club in 1900 in its new location on
Scotts Road
Scotts Road () is a road located in Central Area of 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 o ...
, after it moved from its location near Raffles Hotel on
North Bridge Road
North Bridge Road () is a one-way road in Singapore, running north of the Singapore River. It starts at the junction with Crawford Street in Kallang, on the western bank of the Rochor River, and continues in a southwest direction before ending at ...
. Bidwell applied the south German architectural style in his design of the clubhouse. In Singapore's
downtown area, Bidwell also designed the three-storey
Stamford House (formerly known as the Oranje Building), completed in 1904.
By 1904, Swan and Maclaren was the largest architectural firm in Singapore. In 1905, Swan and Maclaren worked on the extensions and rebuilding of the Victoria Memorial Hall. In the same year, the
Chesed-El Synagogue on Oxley Rise was built. In 1907, the
Singapore Cricket Club
The Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) is one of the premier sports and social clubs in Singapore.
Its clubhouse is located on Connaught Drive on the south end of the Padang in Singapore's central business district.
History
The SCC was esta ...
was extended and refurbished, and the 'Eastern Extension' (later 'Telegraph House', today Sofitel 'So Singapore) on 35
Robinson Road was constructed. In that year, the firm also designed and built one of the largest shops in early Singapore, the
John Little department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
in
Raffles Place
Raffles Place is the centre of the Financial District of Singapore and is located south of the mouth of the Singapore River. It was first planned and developed in the 1820s as Commercial Square to serve as the hub of the commercial zone of Sing ...
, located on the opposite side of the square from
Robinson & Co
Robinsons Department Stores Online Pte Ltd (formerly known as Robinsons & Co. Pte Ltd) is an online retail company based in Singapore. The company owned Robinsons department stores in Singapore and Malaysia, which closed in 2021. It also opera ...
. Between 1906 and 1912, Swan and Maclaren rebuilt the
Saint Joseph's Church on
Victoria Street, dedicated to the Lady of Fatimah, in the
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style. In 1911, Bidwell left Swan and Maclaren to establish his own practice. By then, he was the most important architect in Singapore.
After RAJ Bidwell
![Sultan Mosque 2, Dec 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Sultan_Mosque_2%2C_Dec_05.JPG)
In 1913, Swan and Maclaren built a large
villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
for the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
businessman
Eu Tong Sen
Eu Tong Sen (; 23 July 1877 – 11 May 1941) was a leading businessman in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th century. He was vice-president of the Anti-Opium Society and a member of the Kinta Sanitary Boar ...
on Mount Sophia. The Eu Villa was built at a grand cost of
$1 million. In the same year, the firm designed the
Jinrikisha Station on
Neil Road
Neil Road ( Chinese: 尼路) is a one-way road in Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar in the planning areas of Outram and Bukit Merah in Singapore. The road starts at the junction of South Bridge Road, Maxwell Road and Tanjong Pagar Road and ends at Ka ...
.
In the years between
World Wars I and
II, the firm continued to lead the local market with projects such as the
Sultan Mosque (1924–28), Ocean Building (1923), Bank Chambers (now HSBC Building) (1925),
Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church
The Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church (Chinese: 布连拾街长老会磐石堂) is located on Prinsep Street within Singapore's central business district. It is approximately 350 metres from Rochor MRT station.
The church, previously known as ...
(1930) and the
Singapore Turf Club
The Singapore Turf Club was founded in 1842 as the Singapore Sporting Club to operate the Serangoon Road Race Course at Farrer Park Field. It is the only horse-racing club in Singapore and is part of the Malayan Racing Association. The first r ...
(1934).
In 1927 they completed the construction of the ‘Eastern Extension’ at 35 Robinson Road (later to be known as Telegraph House), the intersection of the ten most important overseas telegraph cables. It is today the (Sofitel) So Singapore.
Swan and Maclaren also designed the
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...
, a granite memorial at the
Esplanade Park that commemorates the soldiers who died in World War I. Its reverse side was inscribed with the names of soldiers who died in World War II.
After World War II, Swan and Maclaren remained important continuing with projects such as
Singapore Polytechnic
Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore.
Established in 1954, the institution is the first and oldest polytechnic in Singapore and is ...
's original campus at Prince Edward Road. They did, however lose some of its dominance due to increased competition from both local and foreign companies.
Since 1999
In May 1999, Swan and Maclaren Architects was awarded the architectural tender for the new
National Library building on Victoria Street to replace the main library on
Stamford Road that was demolished. It was shortlisted out of five for the final selection in
National Library Board
The National Library Board (NLB) is a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Communications and Information of the government of Singapore. The board manages the public libraries throughout the country.
The national libraries ...
's
architectural design competition
An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...
, from the 30 firms that made submissions.
In September 2000, the firm's team leader
Ken Yeang
Ken Yeang (6 October 1948) is an architect, ecologist, planner and author from Malaysia, best known for his ecological architecture and ecomasterplans that have a distinctive green aesthetic. He pioneered an ecology-based architecture (since 1 ...
ended his partnership with Swan and Maclaren Architects, which had originally been contracted to see the project through to completion. Subsequently, NLB released the firm from its contract, and called for new
tenders for the construction of the new National Library building.
The National Library building was eventually opened on 22 July 2005, after three years of construction.
List of projects
National monuments
*
Chesed-El Synagogue (1905)
*
Chinese High School Clock Tower Building (1919)
*
Convent 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 ...
(1854, 1890, 1913, 1951)
*
Goodwood Park Hotel
The Goodwood Park Hotel ( Chinese: 良木园酒店) is a heritage hotel in Singapore, situated in a 6-hectare landscaped garden on Scotts Road. It was first built as the club house for the Teutonic Club serving the expatriate German community ...
(1900)
*
Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church
The Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church (Chinese: 布连拾街长老会磐石堂) is located on Prinsep Street within Singapore's central business district. It is approximately 350 metres from Rochor MRT station.
The church, previously known as ...
(1930)
*
Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel is a British colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern S ...
(1899)
*
Sri Mariamman Temple (1916)
*
Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (1961–66
[Rebuilding])
*
St Andrew's Cathedral (1952, 1983)
*
St Joseph's Church (1906–12,
1938, 1956)
*
Masjid Sultan
Sultan Mosque or Masjid Sultan is a mosque located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam precinct of the district of Rochor in Singapore. It was named after Sultan Hussain Shah. In 1975, it was designated a national monum ...
(1924–28
)
*
Tao Nan School
Tao Nan School (abbreviation: TNS; Chinese: ), is a co-educational primary school in Singapore. One of the six Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan schools, along with Ai Tong School, Chongfu Primary School, Kong Hwa School, Nan Chiau Primary School an ...
(1910;
Armenian Street)
*
Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church (1924)
*
Victoria Memorial Hall and Theatre (1905, 1954–58)
Other projects
*Alkaff Arcade (1909)
*
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to:
Aia
* Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain
* Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis
* Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece
* ''Aia'', the collected ed ...
Building (1958)
*23 Amber Road
*
Bok House (1929;
Ampang Road, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya; demolished 2006)
*
Cenotaph, Penang (1929)
*
Cenotaph, Singapore (1922)
*
Centrepoint (
Orchard Road
Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major –long road in the Central Area of Singapore. Known as a famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area of Singapore, with numerous internationally renowned depa ...
)
*Chin Leong Tang Temple (1920)
*
Chinese High School (1919)
*
Civilian War Memorial
The Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation, usually called the Civilian War Memorial ( Chinese: ; ms, Tugu Peringatan Bagi Mangsa Awam Pemerintahan Jepun; Tamil: ஜப்பானியர் ஆதிக்க கால ...
(1964)
*
Cycle & Carriage
Cycle and Carriage was a company, founded in 1899, and based in Singapore and Malaysia. Cycle and Carriage was one of the premier automotive groups in Singapore and was engaged in the retail, distribution and provision of after-sales service of M ...
Building (1984)
*
David Elias Building (1928)
*
Ee Hoe Hean Club (1927;
Bukit Pasoh Road
Bukit Pasoh Road ( Chinese: 武吉巴梳路: ms, Jalan Bukit Pasoh) is a road in Tanjong Pagar within the Outram Planning Area of Singapore. The road starts from Neil Road which is one way, but becomes two ways, when the road forks out into two ...
)
*Eu Villa (1913)
*
Fairfield Methodist Girls' School (1920–21;
[Additions and alterations] Neil Road
Neil Road ( Chinese: 尼路) is a one-way road in Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar in the planning areas of Outram and Bukit Merah in Singapore. The road starts at the junction of South Bridge Road, Maxwell Road and Tanjong Pagar Road and ends at Ka ...
)
*
Gleneagles Hospital
Gleneagles Hospital is a private hospital on Napier Road, Singapore next to Napier MRT station. It provides medical and surgical services. It is part of Parkway Pantai, itself a subsidiary of the Malaysian–Singaporean private healthcare group ...
(1950, 1959, 1980)
*Grand Hotel (Still Road)
*Great Southern Hotel (1936; now
Yue Hwa Building
Yue Hwa Building () is a historic building located at the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street and Upper Cross Street in Chinatown, Singapore, next to Chinatown MRT station. Built by Swan and Maclaren in 1927, it was then the tallest building in Chin ...
)
* Bank Chambers (1919–1925, 1979–82; renamed to Hong Kong Bank Building, now
HSBC Building)
*
Hong Leong Building (1974)
*
Institute of Education
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to ...
(1929;
Bukit Timah Road
Bukit Timah Road (; ms, Jalan Bukit Timah; ta, புக்கித் திமா சாலை) is a major road in Singapore extending from the city centre to Woodlands Road on the way to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The road has a length of 25 ...
)
*
Istana Woodneuk
Istana Woodneuk is an abandoned two-storey palace at the former Tyersall Park, bounded by Holland Road and Tyersall Avenue, near the Singapore Botanic Gardens in Singapore. Before it was rebuilt in 1935 it was known as Istana Woodneuk. It suffe ...
(1935)
*
Kelly & Walsh
Kelly & Walsh was a notable Shanghai-based publisher of English language books, founded in 1876, which currently exists as a small chain of shops in Hong Kong specializing in art books.
Kelly & Walsh Ltd. was formed in 1876 by combining two Shang ...
Building (1935)
*
John Little (1907;
Raffles Place
Raffles Place is the centre of the Financial District of Singapore and is located south of the mouth of the Singapore River. It was first planned and developed in the 1820s as Commercial Square to serve as the hub of the commercial zone of Sing ...
)
*
Kampong Kapor Methodist Church
Kampong Kapor Methodist Church (Abbreviation: KKMC) is located on Kampong Kapor Road in Singapore's Little India district. The church is approximately 300 metres from Jalan Besar MRT station.
Founded in 1894, KKMC is one of the first Peranakan c ...
(1929)
*Kheng Chiu Building (1963;
Beach Road)
*
Liat Towers (1979)
*
Majestic Theatre Majestic Theatre or Majestic Theater may refer to:
Australia
* Majestic Theatre, Adelaide, former name of a theatre in King William Street, Adelaide, built 1916, now demolished
* Majestic Theatre, Launceston, a former cinema in Tasmania designed b ...
(1928;
New Bridge Road
New Bridge Road (; ms, Jalan Jambatan Baharu) is a major one-way road located within the Central Area in Singapore.
New Bridge Road starts at the Coleman Bridge to the south of the Singapore River and extends into Chinatown within the Outra ...
)
*
Malayan Banking Chambers (1910)
*Manmathan Karunessvera Temple (1932–35
)
*
Mount Alvernia Hospital
Mount Alvernia Hospital is a 319-bed general acute care hospital with tertiary medical capabilities and two multi-disciplinary medical specialist centres in Thomson Road, Singapore.
It is the only not-for-profit, private Catholic missionary ho ...
(1960)
*
MPH Building (1908)
*
National Library
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...
(1999–2005;
Victoria Street)
*
Novena Church
The Church of Saint Alphonsus, or Novena Church as it is more popularly known, is a Catholic church in Singapore located at 300 Thomson Road. It is not a parish church and is under the care of the Redemptorists. The name Novena Church refers to t ...
(1950)
*
Ocean Building (1923, 1974)
*Ocean Towers (1999
)
*Shophouses on Syed Alwi Road (1921)
*
Singapore Chinese Girls' School (1920s; Cairnhill Road)
*
Singapore Cricket Club
The Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) is one of the premier sports and social clubs in Singapore.
Its clubhouse is located on Connaught Drive on the south end of the Padang in Singapore's central business district.
History
The SCC was esta ...
(1884, 1907–21, 1922–23)
*Singapore Island Country Club
*Singapore Railway Station & Hotel (1932; now
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station
Tanjong Pagar railway station ( ms, Stesen Keretapi Tanjong Pagar; ; ta, தஞ்சோங் பகார் ரயில் நிலையம்), also called Singapore railway station ( ms, Stesen Keretapi Singapura; ; ta, சிங் ...
)
*
Singapore Recreation Club
The Singapore Recreation Club ( Abbreviation: SRC; ) is one of Singapore's oldest social clubs with a strong sporting tradition, located on Connaught Drive at the north end of the Padang in the heart of Singapore's Civic District.
History
The ...
(late 1970s)
*Singapore Rubber House (1960, 1978)
*
Singapore Turf Club
The Singapore Turf Club was founded in 1842 as the Singapore Sporting Club to operate the Serangoon Road Race Course at Farrer Park Field. It is the only horse-racing club in Singapore and is part of the Malayan Racing Association. The first r ...
(1934;
Dunearn Road
Bukit Timah Road (; ms, Jalan Bukit Timah; ta, புக்கித் திமா சாலை) is a major road in Singapore extending from the city centre to Woodlands Road on the way to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The road has a length of 25 ...
)
*
St Anthony's Convent (
Queen Street)
*
St Patrick's School chapel (1932
)
*
Stamford House (1904)
*Tamil Methodist Episcopal Church (1925)
*Telecoms Building (1927)
*Telephone House (1907)
*Terraces (128A-H) on Cairnhill Road
*Thong Teck Building (1972)
*Times House (1958;
River Valley Road
River Valley is a planning area located within the Central Area of the Central Region of Singapore. The planning area shares boundaries with Orchard in the north, Museum in the east, Tanglin in the west and Singapore River in the south.
Etymol ...
)
*
United World College of Southeast Asia (1963–64, 1981, 1982, 1984
[Extension to Senior Boarding House])
*
Waterboat House (1919;
now The Fullerton Waterboat House)
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
National Library Board of Singapore, Infopedia: Swan & MaclarenSingapore Institute of Architects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan and Maclaren
Architecture firms of Singapore
Design companies established in 1892
1892 establishments in Singapore