A special staycation package will allow Singaporeans and residents to learn how the hotel has evolved over the years
“Good morning, Your Majesty. When you first visited Singapore which was in 1972, it was the same year that I joined Raffles Hotel.”
That was how Mr Leslie Danker, the Resident Historian of Raffles Hotel, greeted Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she stayed at the hotel for the first time in 2006. It was her third visit to Singapore, after two royal visits in 1972 and 1989.
That meeting was forever etched in his memory. Until today, Mr Dankerstill remembers the exact words he said to the queen and her reply: “That is great!”
“I always admired Queen Elizabeth. When I heard she was coming to Singapore and staying at Raffles Hotel, I was happy,” said Mr Danker during a 2015 interview.
Having witnessed and experienced changes to the hotel, whose fortunes are intertwined with the history of Singapore, Mr Danker, 79, is like a walking history book of the iconic establishment. Officially appointed the hotel’s first– and only – Resident Historian in 2010, he conducts a daily heritage tour for hotel guests.
Designated a national monument in 1987, the “Grand Old Dame”, as Raffles Hotel is fondly known, re-opened its doors in August after a two-year restoration. A series of upgrades and retrofits were carried out at the hotel, one of the few remaining great 19th century hotels in the world and the oldest in Singapore, to adapt to the needs of modern-day travellers.
As with the last extensive restoration in 1989, the hotel took great care to preserve the building’s colonial architectural heritage. For example, the old paint was carefully removed off by hand to avoid damage to the facade. Careful thought and effort was put into selecting the marble flooring and dark wood panelling that match the design and materials once used in the 1990s.
Time has stood still at the hotel. It retains the same colonial-era façade, high ceilings, wide verandahs, Corinthian columns and verdant courtyards, exuding an air of old world charm that once enthralled generations of travellers and still does.
Inside the hotel’s more than 100 expansive suites, classic colonial features such as four-metre high ceiling, double-glazed windows, teakwood floors and mechanical switches were preserved and enhanced to move with the times.
From 10-room bungalow to landmark of Singapore
For a hotel that got its name from Singapore’s founder Sir Stamford Raffles, it is befitting that its grand reopening coincides with Singapore’s bicentennial year. One of the all-suite hotel’s two Presidential Suites is named after Raffles and the other named after the Sarkies Brothers, the first owners of the hotel.
Raffles Hotel started in 1887 as a 10-room bungalow facing the sea. In 1899, the bungalow was replaced by a three-storeyed main building in neo-Renaissance architecture, exemplified by the Grand Lobby with its floor-to-ceiling Victorian pillars with glass-panelled skylight.
During the hotel’s revamp in 1989, fine sea sand was found underneath the flooring of the hotel lobby because the site used to face the sea. Mr Danker kept a little of the sand in a small container for safekeeping.
“At that time, Raffles Hotel was the first hotel in Singapore to be powered by electricity and became a landmark of Singapore,” Mr Dankertold this reporter at the revamped Grand Lobby.
The hotel was also the first hotel in Singapore to hire a French chef in 1899.
Even as the hotel welcomes new dining experiences with the opening of third-generation Michelin-starred chef Anne-Sophie Pic’s first restaurant “La Dame de Pic” in Asia at the hotel’s main building, icons such as the century-old Tiffin Room have undergone a facelift.
Chef Kuldeep, who has been helming Tiffin Room’s kitchen for over a decade, travelled to different parts of northern India to perfect his new menu when the hotel was closed for restoration. Tiffin Room has been serving up delectable North Indian cuisine since it was opened by the Sarkies Brothers at Commercial Square (now Raffles Place) in 1892. It was relocated to the hotel in 1910.
The place of cinemas
Between 1894 and 1904, Raffles Hotel expanded gradually to meet the demand for more rooms. New wings were built and the hotel acquired the old Jubilee Cinema and the surrounding shophouses.
In the mid-1900s, the hotel’s neighbourhood was known as “the place of cinemas”. As a tribute to this part of the hotel’s as well as the nation’s history, the five Residence Suites are named after these bygone cinemas: Alhambra, Diamond, Marlborough, Odeon, and Theatre Royal. These suites feature one- or two-bedroom options with its own living and dining areas, and a pantry.
During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese officers stayed at and re-named Raffles Hotel “SyonanRyokan”, where “syonan” means “Light of the South” and referring to occupied Singapore; and “ryokan” means a Japanese inn.
“Raffles Hotel was lucky to escape the bombings during World War II, it being part of the city centre,” said Mr Danker as he walked towards the courtyard with the gazebo - a popular venue for wedding solemnisations.
He recounted the story of hotel staff hiding silverware, including a silver beef wagon with the wooden handles, in one of the gardens to prevent them from being looted by the Japanese troops. After World War II, the wagon was dug up, restored and used at Raffles Grill until it was converted to the current La Dame de Pic.
The timeless story of the silver wagon is one of several bedtime stories that the hotel has curated for its young guests, as part of a customised children’s programme under the ongoing staycation package.
Over the decades, the hotel has hosted many famous personalities. Among them is British playwright and novelist Somerset Maugham, who wrote a beautiful quote about the hotel: “Raffles stands for all the fables of the exotic East”.
Today, the original letter by Maugham to allow the hotel to use this quote is kept as an artefact in the Somerset Maugham suite, one of the 12 Personality Suites named after famous icons. The suites feature unique memorabilia related to the famous person each is named after, as well as its own leather-bound room key card embossed with the icon’s portrait.
At every corner of the storied hotel, there is an antique piece, a Traveller’s Palm that inspired the hotel’s logo, or a person with a story to tell. These stories are passed down from generation to generation, forming an intangible part of the hotel’s heritage.
Like wine, these timeless stories get better with age. Similarly for the ambience, the charm and the warm hospitality exemplified by the legendary Raffles Butler, who will make anyone’s stay at Raffles Hotel feel like a home away from home.
For details on Raffles Hotel’s Staycation package and other suites, please visit www.RafflesSingapore.com
