Sri Temasek

Sri Temasek is a 19th century bungalow designated as the prime minister’s official residence. Formerly the residence of the colonial secretary, the house has been unoccupied since 1959 though during the 1960s and 1970s it was regularly used for meetings and official social events. It deteriorated during a period of disuse but was successfully restored in an award-winning effort completed in 2008. The house is within the Istana domain.

History
Colonial period
The bungalow was designed by Major J. F. A. McNair, the colonial engineer also responsible for Government House (now the Istana), and constructed in 1869 for the colonial secretary, who was the second-highest official in the Straits Settlements. During the next ninety years it served as both a home for a succession of colonial secretaries and their families and a venue for official entertaining.

Post colonial heyday
Soon after self-rule in June 1959 the house was renamed Sri Temasek, or ”splendour of Temasek”, the original Javanese name of Singapore. It was refurbished for Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew but the Lees wanted a more modest lifestyle for their children and remained in their Oxley Road home. Lee did relax on the golf green in the evenings, joined by his family, and his wife had a fragrant garden planted nearby.

More significantly, it was used extensively for official purposes and attained a higher profile than it had had during the colonial period. It hosted some of the discussions on merger with Malaya and a reception for officials who had worked for merger in the 1962 referendum. Upon the break-up of Malaysia in 1965 ministers were summoned to Sri Temasek to sign the separation agreement, and for security reasons Lee’s family stayed there the week of the announcement.

Particularly after Singapore became an independent republic, many visiting foreign dignitaries were received at Sri Temasek. These included Jordan’s King Hussein, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, British Prime Minister Edward Heath and American Senator Edward Kennedy. In 1983 the house was used for Finance Minister Hon Sui Sen’s lying-in-state and Goh Chok Tong lunched with ministers there before his first cabinet meeting as Prime Minister in 1990.

Recent use
The house no longer occupies the important place in Singaporean public life it once did but provided the setting for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s 2008 National Day Message. In 2010, 14,000 people visited Sri Temasek for the wake of Lee Kuan Yew’s wife, Kwa Geok Choo.

Description
Exterior
The house is a well-proportioned, two-storey symmetrical bungalow situated on a hillock; within the domain it is second only to the Istana in size and elevation. Combining eastern and western elements, it is white with a red pyramid roof, has a front portico with three Tuscan columns, and two-meter wide verandahs at the sides and back. The second storey balustrades are decorated with figure-eight patterns and above the porch are green Chinese breeze blocks with various designs.

The ground-floor verandah is characterised by attractive arches of delicate fretwork and there are Malay-style fascia beneath the roof eaves. The doorways have swinging pintu pagars (“wooden half doors”) for privacy when the main doors are open for ventilation. Behind the house a covered walkway leads to store rooms and the former servants’ quarters. There is a tall water tower next to the site of a now-demolished two-storey annex.

Interior
Two front doors lead into a foyer, at one end of which is a staircase featuring Asian swastikas on the balustrade. The main ground floor room is well-lit by French doors on either side and divided by ceiling arches and heavy columns into a dining area and lounge. The foyer and main room have marble floors and there are smaller rooms at the back.

Typically for houses of this type, the bedrooms are located upstairs to take advantage of cross-ventilation and each one opens onto the verandah. There is also an upstairs drawing room extending above the porch which has a round wooden moongate, a traditional Chinese feature. The house has a total of almost 1600 square metres in floor space.

Decline and restoration
Along with the Istana, the house was gazetted a national monument in February 1992 but it was being used less frequently. Eventually deterioration from weather, termites and age necessitated an extensive program of restoration and this was undertaken in 2006 by CPG Consultants.

Essential structural repairs were carried out, fine architectural details were restored or recreated (in some cases with termite-proof aluminium replacing timber), and the 19th century brick pit along the driveway was restored. Makeshift structures on the upper and lower verandahs were removed, once again affording visitors unimpeded access around the entire building, and a new kitchen and washrooms were installed. A display about the house’s history was mounted in the former servants’ quarters.

After its completion in 2008 the project won an Architectural Heritage Award from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, in the national monuments and conserved buildings category.



Author
Duncan Sutherland



References
Goh, C.K. (November-December 2008). Heritage on a hill. Skyline. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from https://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline08/skyline08-06/text/06.htm

Kennedy in stimulating talks with students. (1965, November 1).The Straits Times, p.4. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from NewspaperSG.

Lee, K. Y. (1998). The Singapore story (Vol.1, pp.644-645). Singapore: Federal Publications.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57092 LEE (HIS))

Lee, K. Y. (2000). The Singapore story: From third world to first (Vol.2, pp.748-49). Singapore: Federal Publications.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57092 LEE (HIS))

Lee. S. H. (2008, August 13). Silent star of Singapore [Microfilm: NL 29457]. The Straits Times, p.A10.

Lim, D. (2009, August 20). Dangerous to let highfalutin ideas go undemolished: MM [Microfilm: NL 30136]. The Straits Times, p.31.

Not official residence. (1960, September 23). The Straits Times, p.4. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from NewspaperSG.

$29,720 to renovate premier’s residence. (1960, September 22). The Straits Times, p.4. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from NewspaperSG.

Tan, S. (1990, November 30). PM Goh’s priorities: Elected presidency and shared values [Microfilm: NL 17130). The Straits Times, p.1.

Tan, S.C. (2008, October 4). Grand dame’s facelift [Microfilm: NL 29512]. The Straits Times, Life, pp.E10-13.

Tan, W. K.,  et al. (2003). Gardens of the Istana (pp.110-111). Singapore: National Parks.
(Call no.: RSING 635.095957 GAR}

The Istana Singapore: Its grounds and landscape. (1994), p.18. Singapore: President’s Office.
(Call no.: RSING 725.17095957 IST)

Urban Redevelopment Authority. (2008). Annex A: Detailed write-ups on architectural heritage award winners. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from http://www.ura.gov.sg/pr/graphics/2008/pr08-99a.pdf

List of images
Goh, C.K. (November-December 2008). Heritage on a hill. Skyline. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from https://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline08/skyline08-06/text/06.htm

Government of Singapore. (2010). About Istana: Architecture. Retrieved on December 8, 2010, from http://www.istana.gov.sg/content/istana/istana/architecture/sritemasek.html

Seet, K. K. (2000). The Istana (pp.188-191). Singapore: Times Editions.
(Call no.: RSING q725.17095957 IST)


Further reading
Seven resporation projects win the URA Architectural Heritage Award. (2009). The Singapore architect, 61-63.
(Call no.: RSING 720.5 SA issue #248)



The information in this article is valid as at 2011 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Arts>>Architecture>>Residential buildings
Prime ministers--Dwellings--Singapore
Official residences--Singapore
Architecture and Landscape>>Building Types>>Residential Buildings
Architecture and Landscape>>Building Types>>Historic Buildings