National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has said an additional 51 buildings and two structures at Jalan Besar, which include the 50-year-old Lee Clan Association, will be conserved.
He announced this on Monday at this year’s Architectural Heritage Awards where he congratulated the eight winners whose projects comprised restored conserved buildings and one monument.
But before the awards ceremony began, a minute of silence was observed for the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo, the wife of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
The awards were presented by Mr Mah at 36 Armenian Street, which was one of the winners of the awards.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) gives out the awards annually to those who have gone the extra mile to preserve old buildings for modern-day use.
Awards were also given out to the St James Power Station, 2-28 Murray Street, 25 Chapel Road, 55 Spottiswoode Park Road, 55 Blaire Road, 68 Cairnhill Road, 38 Armenian Street and the Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s.
Built in 1925, the Grand Duchess consists of two colonial-era single and double-storey bungalows which have continued to live on regally even as they made space in the plot between them for a modern condominium development with glass windows.
The beautiful mix of old and new is due to the owner’s positive response to URA’s call for conservation. But restoring the bungalows and adapting them to function as a clubhouse and a residence was an uphill task.
Mrs Teh Lai Yip, Director of Conservation & Development Services, URA, said: “A lot of it was repair works. Missing parts were put back. Rotten timbre was replaced – cast iron, which is broken, was put back.
“The floor tiles that were already broken were replaced. The sensitive thing is they put back the original pattern, the original size, to bring back the old ambience.”
To ensure that the beauty of the ceiling was not compromised, for example, they used free-standing air-conditioning units that do not need to be mounted.
URA said winners of the Heritage Awards had to find ways to strike a balance between elements of the “old” and “new”, to create a quality development.
Markus Cheng Thuan Hann, Associate Partner, ADDP Architects, said: “We didn’t want to remake the entire colonial look and neither did we want to just keep something too ordinary.
“So we came up with this complementary approach by designing something modern, streamlined, but yet keep to some of these elements – like this large balcony that resembles how the old days people enjoy the verandah outdoor.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 4 Oct 2010