The Fullerton Hotel Singapore
The Fullerton Hotel Singapore is a five-star luxury hotel located near the mouth of the Singapore River, in the Downtown Core of the Central Area, Singapore. It was originally known as the Fullerton Building, and also as the General Post Office Building. The address is 1 Fullerton Square. The Fullerton Building was named after Robert Fullerton, the first Governor of the Straits Settlements. Commissioned in 1924 as part of the British colony's centennial celebrations, the building was designed as an office building by Major P.H. Keys of Keys & Dowdeswell, a Shanghai firm of architects, which won the project through an architectural design competition. The architectural firm also designed the Capitol Theatre, its adjoined Capitol Building and the Singapore General Hospital. In 2015, it was designated as a national monument of Singapore.
History
Fort Fullerton and the Singapore Stone
The northern end of the building covers the site of Fort Fullerton, a fort built in 1829 to defend the settlement against any naval attacks. The fort consisted of an Artillery Barrack, a house for the officers, barracks for soldiers and a 68-pounder gun guarding the entrance to the river which used to stand on the location known as Fullerton square. In 1843, the fort was extended after a sandstone monolith, the Singapore Stone, with an inscription possibly dating back to the 13th century was demolished. The Singapore stone was, unfortunately, destroyed by the British. A fragment of this monolith was salvaged and preserved in the collection of the National Museum at Stamford Road. However, there were several criticisms as well as apprehensions regarding the building of Fort Fullerton. Merchants thought that it was a waste to use the prime location of the city for military instead of trading purpose, which would have prevented Singapore from generating more revenue and boosting its trading business. They were also worried that they would be in the direct line of fire if there were any attacks on the fort because the offices along the Singapore River were situated in close proximity to the fort. The fort was also said to be incapable of deterring any potential attacks from the sea, and had very low efficacy. Following these criticisms, the fort was finally demolished in 1873. The fort gave way to the first General Post Office and the Exchange Building in 1874. Plans to erect Fullerton Building were drawn up in 1920. However, due to a lack of funds, construction only began in February 1924. During the initial groundwork, excavations revealed the gun casements of the old Fort Fullerton. In fact, the Fullerton Building was built over reclaimed land. Built at a cost of $4.1 million and after delays of a few months, the building was completed in June 1928.The Fullerton Building was opened on 27 June 1928 by the Governor, Sir Hugh Clifford, who suggested the building be named after Robert Fullerton. The building had five founding tenants: the General Post Office, The Exchange, Singapore Club, the Marine Department, and the Import and Export Department. It also housed the Chamber of Commerce, and various government departments dealing with agriculture, fisheries and forestry. One of the rooms in the Fullerton Building was where the late Finance Minister, Dr. Goh Keng Swee, wrote many of his budget speeches for Singapore. The building was designed to utilize natural ventilation, thus has four internal air-wells to cool the interiors.
Fullerton Square was an important commercial zone in Singapore attracting many European immigrants and soon became the core of major business activity. Many European businesses were set up at Fullerton Square together with large banks such as the Chartered Bank and HSBC. It also housed the Club for the Colonial Elite, an exclusive club that took up almost of the upper floors.
A lighthouse was built on the Fullerton Building. Called the Fullerton Light, the lighthouse was used to guide ships ashore and anchor along the piers. It was built to replace the Fort Canning Light, which was decommissioned in 1979 since it was gradually blocked because of the construction of more high-rise buildings in Singapore. The location of the previous lighthouse is now occupied by The Lighthouse Restaurant.
The location of the Fullerton Hotel was once referred to as "Mile Zero" before the introduction of the modern road system. All locations in Singapore were measured and stemmed from "Mile Zero".
General Post Office
The building was originally commissioned as the General Post Office. The GPO covered the two lower floors with postal halls, offices and sorting rooms. Large mail drops placed mail on a band conveyor in the basement to be taken up to the sorting room. All mail was sorted by hand. One of the most memorable features of the GPO was its curved service counter which was almost long. The basement was linked to a subway, also called the GPO tunnel, that ran underneath Fullerton Road to a pier. From there, a lift would bring bags of mail to the Master Attendant's Pier, for transferring onto ships. Special mail was sent to neighbouring countries via sea, thus requiring at least 2 months to reach United Kingdom.Before postal workers were allowed to work, they had to pledge to uphold their integrity. As public servants, they were not allowed to leak any information on what went through them. Everything at work was strictly confidential. People often sent money by post using envelopes without using registered mail due to the higher cost incurred. Thus, it was extremely important that postal workers were honest and did not steal any items that went through the mail. To reinforce the importance of confidentiality, the comptroller of the General Post Office would stand at the gallery above the sorting halls to observe all postal workers and ensure none of the letters or mail were opened while being sorted.
Fridays were designated as arrival dates for overseas mail from Britain. Postal workers had to work overtime with no extra pay, just to wait for the mail to arrive and then sort it. They were not entitled to any days off and had to work around the clock. They were also forbidden from personally separating local and overseas letters.
The General Post Office continues to hold the Santa Claus Main Office even today. During Christmas seasons in the past, the post office would be filled with letters from children directed to Santa Claus. These letters were then sent to the Salvation Army, who would reply the children on behalf of Santa Claus. Presently, these letters are forwarded to the Santa Claus Main Office which is situated in the Santa Claus Village in Finland.
Singapore Club
The exclusive Singapore Club rents premises on the upper floors of the building to provide for their members' need and comfort. It originally only allowed entry to European tycoons and British civil servants. There are rooms where members dined, lounged, conferred, and played billiards and cards. Bedrooms on the attic storey provided accommodation for members. When the Economic Development Board was formed in 1961, it evicted the Singapore Club from the Fullerton Building. Subsequently, the Singapore Club relocated to Clifford House at Collyer Quay and then to Straits Trading Building on Battery Road near Boat Quay, vacating the Fullerton Building for use by the EDB and more government offices.World War II
In the last days before Britain's surrender to Japan in 1942, the building was used as a hospital, with makeshift operation rooms for wounded British soldiers. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, Governor Sir Shenton Thomas and Lady Thomas sought refuge in the sleeping quarters of the Singapore Club. The Fullerton Building was also where General Percival discussed with Sir Shenton the possibility of surrendering Singapore to the Japanese. Subsequently, Fullerton Building became the headquarters of the Japanese military administration in Singapore.Post-war years
In the 1950s, the Fullerton Building became recognised as an unofficial public monument. With its recognizable lighthouse, it stood out of the skyline as the most prominent feature of the waterfront. In time, the Fullerton became a symbol of Singapore, appearing in many postcards, recognised by travellers and ship captains from all over the world.In 1965, Fullerton Square hosted a rally for Singapore's independence. Before the majestic background of the Fullerton Building, crowds declared their support for merdeka independence.
From the 1970s to 1995, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore used the building as its headquarters. Internal alterations were carried out on the building by the Public Works Department in 1985. The General Post Office, under Singapore Post, vacated the building in March 1996. Though plans were initiated to conserve the Fullerton Building after that, it was only gazetted as a conservation building by the Singapore Government in 1997.
Redevelopment
In 1997, Sino Land Company Ltd, a sister company of Far East Organization, acquired the Fullerton Building from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It spent close to another S$300 million converting Fullerton Building into a hotel and building the two-storey commercial complex One Fullerton opposite Fullerton Road. Renovation works on the Fullerton Building were completed on 8 December 2000. The Fullerton Hotel Singapore was officially opened by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on 1 January 2001.The site, sandwiched between the Civic District and the central business district, was sold together with an underpass and the seafront site on which One Fullerton now stands for S$110 million. The two are linked by an air-conditioned underground pedestrian walkway with travellators. To ensure that the historical Fullerton Building continues to be visible from Marina Bay, URA specified a low building height for One Fullerton across the road. This also ensured that guests at the Fullerton Hotel would have unobstructed views of the sea.