# Historic City Buildings Converted Into Hotels...



## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)

More examples in Singapore.

This former school building will be turned into a boutique hotel (the owner is famous for designing unusual, funky interiors).










Old schoolhouse to become hip hotel

17 Jul 08










ITS rooms once housed students thumbing through textbooks and reciting Chinese poetry. 
But next year, a pre-war building in Little India will start hosting well-heeled travellers keen on spending a night or two in hip luxury. 

A hotelier known for his unconventional tastes is giving the Dickson Road building, famous for its facade of ornate tiles, a facelift. 

The four-storey conservation building, the former premises of the Hong Wen School - one of Singapore's oldest Chinese schools - was bought by Mr Loh Lik Peng this year. 

He was behind boutique hotels New Majestic and 1929, both in Chinatown, which have been lauded in the international media for their fashionable interior designs. They, too, are in conservation buildings. 

In the same vein, the as-yet-unnamed hotel will be pitched at young, trendy, high-spending travellers. Mr Loh has given three local design studios free rein to craft one floor each. 

The building is expected to open as a 29-room hotel by the end of next year. 

Guests, who will pay between $250 and $400 a night for a room, can expect eclectic graphics featuring spaceships, monsters and local retro imagery. 

'It's not something that everyone will like, but that's radical design for you,' said Mr Loh. 

He estimated the building was built in the 1920s or 1930s, going by its architectural style. It features European art nouveau-inspired tiles used on a scale that is unique to Singapore, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which gave the building conservation status in 1989. 

It served as a residential complex until 1945, when Hong Wen School moved in, according to former student Lim Kim Yiang. 

When the school moved to its current premises at Victoria Street in 1981, the Singapore Buddhist Federation took over the building. 

The building joins a number of old schools that have recently been converted for commercial use. They include the former Methodist Girls' School premises and the former Trinity Theological College campus. 

Both are situated on Mount Sophia and have been turned into art complexes. 

The new hotel joins a growing number of low- to mid-range places that have sprouted up in the area recently. 


By Tessa Wong 
Straits Times


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## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)

This grand colonial building on Fort Canning Hill, now a club, will soon involve a hotel component.










Legends Fort Canning to undergo $70m revamp

8 Oct 08

*Town club will have boutique hotel, members' block*

THE Legends Fort Canning Park will get a luxury boutique hotel and a new members' block as part of a $70 million revamp.










The town club has been operating for five years out of a colonial building, which will be remodelled to include the hotel and new dining outlets.

The hotel will have 82 rooms and suites on the second and third floors of the building. The ground floor will house new food and beverage outlets managed by the GGR Garibaldi Group of restaurants. Italian, Japanese and modern Asian restaurants are in the plans.

The club said that a survey of members showed guest rooms were one of the things they wanted most. 'With the luxury hotel rooms added, members will not only have another excellent facility at their disposal, but I think their membership will increase in prestige and value,' said club CEO Oh Chee Eng.

The boutique hotel concept could also be a stepping stone to bigger things for the club, he said. 'If the business model grows and is exciting, we intend to replicate it regionally.'

The hotel will have a separate identity from The Legends Fort Canning Park, and the new brand will be unveiled in the first quarter of 2009.

The hotel will cater not only to business and leisure travellers, but also to club members at preferential rates. 'We are comfortable that we can achieve a 70-80 per cent occupancy rate,' said Mr Oh.

Besides the hotel, club members can look forward to a new three-storey glass building with a gym and spa and swimming pools.

The club is tapping shareholder funds and bank borrowings to finance the redevelopment. Renovation starts on Oct 15 and the club will reopen on April 1 next year.

Because of the closure, members will not have to pay subscription fees from Oct 16 this year to April 1, 2009. In the meantime, the club will tie up with an established fitness chain to offer alternative gym facilities at special prices.


By EMILYN YAP 
Business Times


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## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)

The historic Clifford Pier has been conserved and will be part of a new hotel development. The pier itself has been converted into a Chinese restaurant.


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## Jim856796 (Jun 1, 2006)

I think I went to a recent story which said something about the Flatiron Building in New York City into a world-class luxury hotel by 2020.


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## Jim856796 (Jun 1, 2006)

Three examples of a historic skyscraper converted from office buildings into hotels are:










The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building was refurbished and converted into the 580-room Loews Philadelphia Hotel in the late 1990s.










The Carbide and Carbon Building was converted into a boutique hotel (Hard Rock Hotel Chicago) in 2002-2003. It has 383 guest rooms and 13 suites.









The Magnolia Building was converted into a n330-room luxury hotel in 1997. Three years later the Pegasus at the top of the building was rebuilt from scratch.


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