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They are older than you know, and they may be older than you will ever be. History has calcified in their granite bones. They
remember the time where rickshaws roamed the streets and the footsteps of great personages and alleged criminals alike echoed
through their halls. They witnessed the fall of a colony, in a flash of bayonets; they stood by in silent attention, as a new nation
arose. In time to come, they will be transformed, reborn again as the National Art Gallery, Singapore.
Welcome to the City Hall & former Supreme Court buildings!
could keep cool when the heat was on. A ventilated system called
the Solo-Air system, invented by E H Hindmarsh, provided a
cooling current of renewed air routed through the floor and up into
the legs of the tables, where concealed ducts directed jets of air.
Built on the site of the Hotel LEurope, one of the palatial hotels in Southeast Asia in the 1900s.
Built at the cost of $1.75 million and said to be modelled after the Old Bailey Court House in
London
Declared open in 1939
The Supreme Court moved to new building, just a stones throw away from the former site.
The new Supreme Court was designed by Lord Norman Foster
COURT
OF
APPEAL
ROTUNDA
LIBRARY
CHIEF JUSTICE
CHAMBER
COURTROOM 1
FSC HISTORICAL
LOBBY
Do you know?
Chief Justice Yong Pung How, the second of three local Chief Justices that Singapore
has had, was the one who abolished the wearing of traditional wigs for the justices.
Foundation Stone
Laid by Sir Shenton Thomas on 1 April 1937, the 70th anniversary of
the proclamation of the Straits Settlement as a separate colony. Being
seven feet across and weighing two tonnes, it was the biggest foundation stone in Malaya at that time. A time capsule, fashioned from brass
and containing 6 Singapore newspapers and Straits Settlement coins
from that period of time, slumbers under the stone. They will be
unearthed in the year 3000, 900 years from now!
Main Corridor
Built during the
time of the Great
Depression, the
former Supreme
Court suffered
from a lack of
funding
resources. You
probably could
not tell it from
looking at the
grand faade
alone. Economical building materials were used and the inside of the building is
rather austere and practical.
Gypsum plaster was used for the finishing of the cornices and the
main hall. The rubber tiling on the floors of the main corridor reflect
an Art Deco influence. Locally manufactured, they are soundabsorbing to make sure that the halls of the Supreme Court would
remain suitably quiet.
FSC BALCONY
Courtroom 1
One of the four original courtrooms in the former Supreme Court. The
furniture in Courtroom 1 will be preserved in the National Art Gallery.
Even in the days before air-conditioning, judges, lawyer and spectators