You've probably been to the Peranakan Museum, National Design Centre and Aliwal Arts Centre.

But do you know they were once schools? Can you name the previous incarnations of these 10 buildings?

All answers in the second half of the article.

 

1. National Archives of Singapore, 1 Canning Rise

Today it is the National Archives of Singapore, previously this concrete building by local architect Ng Keng Siang was a primary school until November 1993.

 

2. National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road

The current hipster haven for anything remotely creative was once the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from  1996 to 2004. Years before that? It was a convent school and a boys school.

 

3. Home Team Career Centre, 178 Neil Road

Home to all policemen wannabes, this stylo two-storey neoclassical building was built in 1912 and was home to a methodist school.

 

4. The Stamford Arts Centre, 155 Waterloo Street

Built by the Japan Club (now the Japanese Association) in 1920 as a Japanese school, the Stamford Arts Centre, which is now used as Arts Housing under the National Arts Centre, had seen livelier days.

 

5. Aliwal Arts Centre, 32 Aliwal Street

Featuring the names of its donors, the Haw Par brothers of Tiger Balm fame, this art deco-styled building in Kampong Glam used to house an integrated boys' and girl's Chinese school.

 

6. CHIJMES, 30 Victoria Street

Home to many a watering holes, CHIJMES was built in 1840 and gazetted as a National Monument in 1990 and won an UNESCO Merit Award for cultural heritage conservation in 2002. It was also a girls' school back in 1854.

 

7. Chinese Development Assistance Council, 65 Tanjong Katong Road

A landmark in Tanjong Katong, probably for its octogonal clock tower, the current Chinese Development Assistance Council building was once a school built by the Hainanese community.

 

8. The People's Association Headquarters, 2 Tyrwhitt Road

The current People's Association Headquarters was designed by Frank Dorrington Ward, who also was responsible for the Supreme Court. The long frontage is one of the key features of this building.

 

9. Peranakan Museum, 39 Armenian Street

Gazetted as a national monument in 1998, the Peranakan Museum was once a Chinese school. Despite being a Chinese school, the building was designed with features of the French Renaissance, symbolising a modern education institution.

 

10. Wanderlust Hotel, 2 Dickson Road

Before it transformed into a eclectic boutique hotel in 2010, it was once a residential complex and later on a school. Its facade uses European Art Nouveau-inspired tiles that is pretty unique to Singapore.

 

Answers

1. Former ACS Primary School

Previously from Amoy Street, the school moved to Fort Canning in 1892 and remained there till November 1993.

 

2. Former St Anthony's Convent and St Anthony's Boys School

Previously known as St Anna's School in 1879, it later became St Anthony's Boys and Girls School and in 1906, the Girls' school became St Anthony's Convent. In 1952, the old wooden convent was replaced by the current 5-storey building.

 

3. Former Fairfield Methodist School

Founded in 1888 by Australian missionary Sophia Blackmore, Fairfield Methodist was originally located in Cross Street before moving to Neil Road.

 

4. Former Stamford Girls' School, Former Gan Eng Seng School

Although best known as Stamford Girl's School from 1955 to 1984, it was also home for students from Gan Eng Seng School, which occupied the premises from 1947 to 1951.

 

5.Former Chong Cheng School and Chong Pun Girls' School

Not to be confused with Chung Cheng, the Aliwal Arts Centre used to be Chong Cheng Boys' School and the Chong Pun Girls' school in the lates 30s.

 

6. Former Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus

This complex was home to the School of the Holy Infant Jesus for over 130 years.

 

7. Former Yock Eng High School, now Yuying Secondary School

Founded in 1910 by the Hainanese community, Yock Eng High School (now Yuying Secondary School, because hanyu pinyin) was based in Tanjong Katong from 1941 to 1985 before it moved to Hougang.

 

8. Former Victoria School

Having started out as an English class in the Kampong Glam Malay School in 1876, it later became Victoria School and moved to Tyrwhitt Road in 1933.

 

9. Former Tao Nan School

The building, completed in 1912, was built with the help of the $10,000 from the Sugar King of Java Oei Tiong Ham.

 

10. Former Hong Wen School

Established by the Hing Hua dialect group from Fujian in 1920, China, Hong Wen School moved in to the Dickson Road building after the war in 1945.

 

Top photo from here. 

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