The Old Parliment House

The Old Parliament House is probably Singapore's oldest surviving structure, even though it has been renovated so many times it no longer looks the way it was originally constructed. It was designed as a home for John Argyle Maxwell, a Scottish merchant, but he never moved in. In 1822, Raffles returned to Singapore and was furious to find a residence being built on ground he'd allocated for government use. Maxwell never moved in; instead the government took over his house for its court and other offices. In 1939, when the new Supreme Court was completed, the judiciary moved into Maxwell's House; then, in 1953, following a major renovation, the small structure was renamed Parliament House and was turned over to the legislature.

The original house was designed by architect George D. Coleman, who had helped Raffles with his Town Plan of 1822. Coleman's design was in the English neo-Palladian style. Simple and well suited to the tropics, this style was popular at the time with Calcutta merchants. Major alterations have left very little behind of Coleman's design, replacing it with an eclectic French classical style, but some of his work survives.

Today, the building has been transformed once again -- reopened in March 2004 as The Arts House at the Old Parliament, with lovingly restored spaces for visual and performance arts plus special cultural events. A couple highbrow eateries offer a variety of Thai and Western cuisine. Singapore's parliament now operates out of the new Parliament Building just next door.

The bronze elephant in front of the Old Parliament House was a gift to Singapore in 1872 from His Majesty Somdeth Phra Paraminda Maha Chulalongkorn (Rama V), supreme king of Siam, as a token of gratitude following his stay the previous year.