The Civic District I

The Building

The building that is currently housing the Asian Civilization Museum was built from 1864 to 1865. The architect and engineer of this building was John Frederick Adolphus MacNair. It was built with the intended purpose of functioning as a Courthouse but upon completion in 1865, it was used by various government offices under banner of Government Secretariat.

The Municipal Council of Singapore changed the name of the building to Empress Place Building in 1907 when it renamed that area to commemorate the visit of the Empress of India, Queen Victoria's visit to Singapore. Even after attaining self-rule in 1959, the Government of Singapore housed several government departments in this building. The list of departments since 1959 include the Immigration Department, the Muslim Registry of Religious Council of Singapore, the Registry of Births and Deaths and the Singapore Citizenship Registry.

The Evolution

The government offices had to move out of the building in the late 1980s as they grew too large for the nest. The Empress Place Building wasset aside for restoration as part of the Civic and Cultural District project. The building re-opened as an art museum called the Empress Place Museum in 1989 after a period of 14 months. This museum project did not take off as expected due to the myopic nature of the exhibits. In 1995, the Government of Singapore handed the building to the National Heritage Board to become part of the Asian Civilizations Museum. In meant that this grand old dame had to undergo a second phrase of restoration and extension. This mammoth project began in 1998 and it reentered the museum scene as the second wing of the Asian Civilizations Museum (the first wing is located at Armenian Street).

The Architecture

Through the 2 phrases of restoration and extensions the building’s architecture remained constant. The Public Works Department maintained original neo-classical Palladian architecture style.

National Monument Status
Under section 9 of the Preservation of Monuments Act this building was gazetted on 14 February 1992 as one of Singapore's National Monuments.



At the Moment...

The Asian Civilization Museum gives us an overview of cultures of pan-Asia and at the same time seeks to promote appreciation of different cultures that make up Singapore’s multi-ethnic society. When we walked into the building, we saw a huge landing that was left vacant, followed by a few tourists at the galleries. Walking up to the 2nd storey, an overview of the history of Singapore River was brought to us through a “mini maze” coupled with attractive pictures. It brought me to a realization that such a huge plot of land was used in an attempt to promote appreciation of different cultures. Yet there were barely a few souls seen in the museum when we went. Maybe more could be done to attract Singaporeans and tourists to this place for it to serve its purpose for this grand dame deserves all the warm bodies it can get so as to keep her going.



Trivia
Did you know that John Frederick Adolphus MacNair was the same person who designed the Government House (presently the Istana)?
Did you also know that the Asian Civilization Museum Building was built by convict labour?
Did you know that Empress Place is one of Singapore's oldest pedestrian space?

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