During the mid-1970s, when I was studying at Catholic High School (Primary section) on Queen's Street, I would often pass what I considered the grottiest corner of Middle Road. There was an old dirty yellow building housing the greasiest looking motor workshop, and turning the corner of Waterloo Street, what has to be the seediest hotel in all of Singapore. That was the Tai Loke Hotel, home to hippy backpackers and short-time trysts.
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| The Way We Were Old photos by Ronni Pinsler, Lee Kip Lin and National Heritage Board. |
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| Singapore's answer to the Bates Motel? |
Old photos still exist of these buildings, but what greeted me this Saturday evening was two totally spruced-up edifices. That is what gentrification is about - thrown out the decrepit old tenants, find a willing buyer and rebuild anew. Not a hair is out of place in the new premises which now houses Objectifs - Centre for Photography and Film. This complex was previously called Sculpture Square.
This is part of the National Arts Council's arts housing project, which utilises the preserved old buildings on Waterloo Street, Middle Road and Queen's Street, giving them a new life with their occupation by the best of Singapore's arts organisations.
The yellow building, formerly the Middle Road Church dating from the 1890s, is now an exhibition hall and sometime concert venue. The tarted-up old Tai Loke Hotel has two storeys of exhibits, with no tarts or exhibitionists in sight.
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| It's great to see old historical buildings getting a new lease of life. |
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