Opened on 1 January 2001, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore heralded a new chapter for refined hospitality in Singapore. The ‘Grande Dame’ makes her home in the former Fullerton Building, a magnificent neoclassical landmark completed in 1928 that was gazetted in December 2015 as Singapore’s 71^st National Monument, the highest form of national recognition. The building’s storied history includes uses as the General Post Office, the prestigious Singapore Club and various government departments.

Making its mark on Singapore’s history for close to a century, the building stands at the estuary of the Singapore River, its five frontages and colossal two-storey Doric colonnade forming an impressive façade adorned with ornate classical decorations by Swiss sculptor Rudolf Wening and Italian sculptor Cavaliere Rudolfo Nolli. At the time of its completion, modern facilities within the building included 14 lifts and automated mail-sorting equipment for the post office, which occupied the basement and the first two floors of the building. The upper floors were reserved for the Singapore Club’s facilities, and included a vaulted coffered ceiling. Reputed to be the only one of its kind in Singapore, this unique feature can still be seen today in The Straits Room.

In 1996, the Singapore Government announced plans to turn the building into a hotel. The building and its adjacent waterfront plots were acquired by Sino Group, and a collection of heritage landmarks — The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, The Fullerton Waterboat House, Clifford Pier and Customs House — forms the world-class The Fullerton Heritage, with new developments, namely The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, One Fullerton and The Fullerton Pavilion, added to the enchanting precinct by Marina Bay.

The fishing village of Tai O is famous for its stilt houses, the iconic homes of its villagers. The homes were originally built by the seagoing Tanka people who settled in the area centuries ago; replicating their boat structures on poles, they constructed the stilt house as we know it today. The earlier versions were styled after inverted fishing boats, with wood, leaves and pine as their main materials, and gradually these were switched to galvanised iron sheets and stone for sturdier builds. Their artisan origins make the stilt houses a form of art and a way for locals to build their community.

Many stilt houses are experiencing wear and tear, affecting the residents’ quality of life and even safety. To address this, the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation initiated the Tai O Stilt Houses Rehabilitation Programme in 2018. In collaboration with the HKYWCA Tai O Community Work Office and Tai O residents, the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation repairs and restores these stilt houses, especially those belonging to elderly villagers, so as to conserve the intangible cultural value of the village and Hong Kong. Seven stilt houses have been restored since 2018.

‘It’s much better now. I don’t need to worry about tripping over due to broken flooring in the stilt house. Tai O is filled with kind-hearted, caring and companionable neighbours,’ says stilt house resident and programme beneficiary Auntie Shek Shui Mui, who has been living in her stilt house for more than 70 years. Uncle Sin, a local stilt house repair specialist, agrees. ‘Everyone here is enthusiastic, helping each neighbour and families in need.’

The Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation will continue its efforts in preserving the unique charm of the fishing village and promoting sustainable tourism at Tai O.

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Sino Group, the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and the Photographic Heritage Foundation are jointly presenting the exhibition Photographs from the 1950s: Marjorie Doggett’s Singapore, Lee Fook Chee’s Hong Kong.

Curated by the Photographic Heritage Foundation and supported by the Consulate-General of the Republic of Singapore in Hong Kong, the exhibition presents works by Marjorie Doggett, a pioneering female photographer from England, who captured the cityscapes and buildings of Singapore from 1954 to 1957, and Lee Fook Chee, a self-taught Singaporean photographer who focused on Hong Kong streetscapes during the same period. The exhibition showcases the parallel timelines of the 1950s in Hong Kong and Singapore, when they were on the cusp of their transformations into shining international metropolises, paying tribute to the rich shared history and warm friendship between the two great Asian cities.

The compelling imagery of Hong Kong ranges from the urban spaces of Des Voeux Road, Central District and Hennessy Road to the Cheung Chau waterfront, rice fields in the city’s alluvial plain and a Hakka village in the New Territories. Singapore’s icons include the former Fullerton Building, the Raffles Institution, the characteristic godowns along the Singapore River and the 19^th-century buildings on Collyer Quay.

There are a series of free docent tours for visitors and schools that introduce the history, architecture, iconic buildings and urban transformation of the two cities. A roving exhibition with highlights of the collection also takes place across Hong Kong until June.