Clifford Pier was a former pier located beside

Collyer Quay Collyer Quay () is a road in Downtown Core, Singapore that starts after Fullerton Road and ends at the junction of Raffles Quay, Finlayson Green and Marina Boulevard. The road houses several landmarks namely, Clifford Pier, Change Alley, Hit ...

at Marina Bay within the Downtown Core of the Central Area, Singapore. The pier, which opened in 1933, ceased operations in 2006. In 2008 the site was converted into a restaurant, One on the Bund, with Chinese cuisine. This restaurant closed in 2014 and was replaced by another restaurant, The Clifford Pier, which offers a selection of local, Asian, and Western dishes under the operations of the Fullerton Bay Hotel.

Etymology and history

The Hokkiens called the pier ''ang theng beh thow''(

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 va ...

: 红灯码头) meaning "red lamp harbour", and to the Malays as lampu merah (''meaning'' “red lamp”), both referring to the red oil lamp beacon which shone over the pier at night as a warning to ships. Before the Tanjong Pagar

wharves A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

were built in the 1850s,

Johnston's Pier Johnston's Pier was a pier, formerly situated at Collyer Quay, Singapore, where it stood from the mid-1850s to the mid-1930s. History After the establishment of Singapore as a Strait Settlements port, many buildings along its southern shorelin ...

was the chief landing place. By the 1920s, the pier was worn out and

Governor of the Straits Settlements The governor of the Straits Settlements was appointed by the British East India Company until 1867, when the Straits Settlements became a Crown colony. Thereafter the governor was appointed by the Colonial Office. The position existed from 1826 ...

Sir

Cecil Clementi Sir Cecil Clementi (; 1 September 1875 – 5 April 1947) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements from 1930 to 1934. Early lif ...

decided to build a new pier. In 1929, the plans to build Clifford pier was approved. The new pier was named Clifford Pier in memory of Sir

Hugh Clifford Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, (5 March 1866 – 18 December 1941) was a British colonial administrator. Early life Clifford was born in Roehampton, London, the sixth of the eight children of Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Clifford and his wife Jos ...

, former

. The decision to name the newly constructed pier after Sir Hugh Clifford sparked contention. The Straits Settlements Association of Singapore had several correspondences with the current governor Sir

appealing to retain the name of Johnston for the new pier. Persuasion failed due to the governor refusing to reverse his decision on grounds that Clifford's name was prominent in the region. Several members of the public also showed displeasure at the renaming, believing that the memory of Johnston's Pier would go along with its demolition. Despite the loss of the original name, locals continued to refer to the new pier in its Hokkien and Malay names. Clifford Pier was a landing point for immigrants and other sea passengers. The pier was later used as a terminal for tourists and

day trippers A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...

who boarded small boats and ferries heading for the Southern Islands. During the annual

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

season to

Kusu Island Kusu Island is one of the Southern Islands in Singapore, located about to the south of the main island of Singapore and below the Singapore Straits. "Kusu" means "Tortoise Island" or "Turtle Island" in Hokkien; the island is also known as '' ...

, regular ferries departed from Clifford Pier to the island. With the construction of the

Marina Barrage Marina Barrage is a dam in southern Singapore built at the confluence of five rivers, across the Marina Channel between Marina East and Marina South. First conceptualised in 1987 by then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew to help achieve greater self-s ...

, a dam across the Marina Channel which will convert the existing Marina Bay into a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, the existing Clifford Pier has ceased operations on 1 April 2006. The

Marina South Pier Marina South Pier is a pier that is located in Marina South, Singapore. It is used as a terminal for tourists and day-trippers who are boarding small boats and ferries heading for the Southern Islands. There are regular ferries from the pier to K ...

has been constructed at Marina South and was opened in April 2006 to replace the existing Clifford Pier. The existing 26,000 square metre Clifford Pier site including its adjacent former Customs Harbour Branch building has been safeguarded for

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

, and its surrounding land parcels are currently being developed into a retail,

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisure ...

, entertainment and hotel centre.

Architecture

Clifford Pier was designed by the Public Works Department, where Frank Dorrington Ward was then the Chief Architect in the 1930s. The pier has a simple but unique architecture with a roof structure comprising concrete

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

es in a riband form. Details, such as

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

s and even the fire hose

cabinets A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...

, were evidently designed with much consideration.

Redevelopment

After 18 months of renovation costing S$6 million, the premises was leased to Calvin Yeung, a famed Hong Kong restaurateur, his upscale Chinese restaurant One On The Bund was opened on the former pier on 11 December 2008. Yeung's restaurant was closed in early 2014 when its lease ended. In May 2014, a new restaurant was reopened on the former pier under the same namesake The Clifford Pier, as part of the Fullerton Bay Hotel, offering a wide selection of local, Asian, and Western dishes.

Etymology and history

Architecture

Redevelopment

See also

References

Further reading