St.Andrew's Cathedral

Across Coleman Street and amid an expanse of greenery rises the graceful spire of St Andrew's Cathedral. An interesting, ironic, historical footnote is that this house of God was erected by the hands of the sinful or, to be precise and less melodramatic, convict labours from India. The church, a gazetted monument, owes its sparkling white surface to the strange plaster used by the Indian convict labourers. Called Madras chunam, the outside walls were daubed with this plaster made of egg white, egg shell, lime, sugar, coconut husk and water, which gave the building a smooth polished finish.

Interestingly, this is the third place of worship on the premises. The original was the Church of St Andrew, which eminent colonial architect George Coleman designed in Palladian style 1837. The second, including the current spire, was twice struck by lightning and demolished in 1855. The present cathedral, in the style of an early Gothic abbey, was consecrated in 1862. The stunning white exterior contrasts with the dark pews inside, and sunlight gently filters through the coloured stained-glass windows. The cathedral served as an emergency hospital just before the fall of Singapore in 1942, and now serves as an Anglican church.