Boutique hotels are becoming the first choice for travellers looking for something a little different in a city stay, something that speaks out loud about the place they visit and the stories that have made it so. Thomas Jones spends a weekend at Hotel Fort Canning in Singapore and feels the island’s history.

Text by Thomas Jones

Travelers today are a very discerning bunch. No longer content with the generic offerings of the major hotel players, who provide them with no sense of place, they are seeking a difference that will allow them to soak up a bit of the culture and history of their destination. The Hotel Fort Canning in Singapore is just such a place, where, not only do guests get the highest levels of service and amenities, but also the opportunity to eat, sleep and breathe the magnificent legacy of the city.

“Guests have the opportunity to eat, sleep and breathe the magnificent legacy of the city.”

Originally built in 1926, the building has served many lifestyles in its octogenarian existence. It spent its childhood as the British Far East Command Headquarters before being bullied out by the Japanese Imperial Army during its teens. Once sanity was restored it again reverted to its former glory for the British and then the Singaporean armed forces before taking the position of Singapore Command & Staff College in its 44th year. Years later, in its seventies, it became a private members club before the owners, realizing the respected old boy still had life in him yet, finally embarked on a two-and-a-half year refurbishment and opened again as the Hotel Fort Canning in October 2010, ensuring the golden years will be well spent and appreciated by all.

A Deluxe Room looking through to the bathroom and park views.

The restoration has retained the classic design features and thus retains a sense of the building’s colonial glamour, with many of the original elements including the multi-columned façade and the grand central staircase linking the three floors taking centre stage as soon as you arrive. In the refurbishment the architects approach was to interpret ‘modern heritage’ by translating the experience of tradition in a new light. They took inspiration from how the building was originally used for both the British and Singaporean military. “It was a place for the top echelon to gather, to share, to learn and to strategize amidst an environment of calm tranquility and simple expressions,” says Mr. Oh Chee Eng, Chief Executive Officer of Hotel Fort Canning. “From this perspective, we updated the building and took inspirations to generate interiors, settings and ambience that would appeal to today’s top echelon of business travelers.”

“The restoration has retained the classic design features and thus retains a sense of the building’s colonial glamour.”

The verandah spaces, which used to run around the exterior of the building, were reincorporated into the unique layout of the deluxe rooms by placing the bathrooms where these exterior walkways once stood. “We were inspired by the historical lore that the Hill had possessed the original ‘Royal Baths’ of local princesses, hence, we did a modern take on the ‘royal bath’ by making the process of cleansing a design highlight and, hopefully, a ritual of highlights for the hotel guests,” says Mr. Oh.

It’s not many hotels in Singapore that can offer peaceful surroundings like the massive shady acreage of Fort Canning Park right outside their front doorstep and location wise, you couldn’t ask for anything more convenient. It’s straight down the hill to Orchard Road and the MRT station at Dhobi Ghat on one side, while on the other it’s a nice walk through the park right down onto the waterfront, Clarke Quay and the CBD.

Either as rulers or subjects not many countries can say that colonialism hasn’t been a significant part of their history, but Singapore at least has clasped it to its bosom and wears it as a badge of honour. Here in the city state, mixed in with the steel and glass towers of tribute to Mammon, Hotel Fort Canning is an architectural tribute to a past of which Singapore is very proud.

Hotel Fort Canning
11 Canning Walk Singapore
Tel: +65 6338 1212
www.hfcsingapore.com

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