The former Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) NCO Club, Blocks 1 and 14 of the old Beach Road Camp have created a distinctive stretch of road with historical military and police buildings. These buildings help to tie the site of the old colonial government buildings around Empress Place and the Padang through to the Raffles Hotel (National Monument) to the surrounding historic urban fabric of Purvis and Liang Seah Streets (Beach Road Conservation Area) where traditional shophouses (circa 1910-20s) have been conserved.
Beach Road, as the name implies, was the original seafront prior to reclamation. In the early 1800s, as part of Singapore’s first Town Plan, Sir Stamford Raffles designated the area around it as the European Town. Its sea-frontage made it the main European residential area as well as that of the wealthy Asians and it became known as ‘The row of 20 houses’. In the 1860s, when the area became overcrowded as the settlement prospered, many of the houses along the road were converted into hotels and boarding houses to meet the demand of a growing population. The road remained on the seafront until the 1870s and 1880s and during these periods, the area soon ceased to be a fashionable residential area. The land was later reclaimed over several phases, starting from about the 1900s for the construction of Beach Road Camp and later on, the Nicoll Highway. The final major stage of reclamation was carried out in the 1970s.
Within the Beach Road area, there are the Raffles Hotel which was gazetted a national monument in 1987 and the two- and three-storey shophouses within the Beach Road Conservation Area which were gazetted in October 1991.
The building, known to many Singaporeans as the Former NCO Club, was first built in 1952-53 as the Britannia Club (also known as the NAAFI - Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) to serve as the place of recreation of the ‘Other Ranks’ of the British Armed Forces. It was designed by architecture firm, Palmer & Turner, who also built many landmark buildings around the region. The building contained one of the earliest Olympic-sized swimming pools, paid for by the Nuffield Trust, a British charity that promotes healthy living. Until 1972, the building was used by ANZUK (Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom Forces) soldiers and their families. With the withdrawal of British Armed Forces from Singapore, the building was returned to an independent Singapore. It was then inaugurated as the SAF NCO Club on 17 March 1974. This was also where the first SAFE (Singapore Armed Forces Enterprise) store was set up and the club was well used by many NS men over the years.
The Former NCO Club is a reinforced concrete construction, whose architectural style is a hybrid of Art Deco and Modern Style. There is extensive use of terracotta wall tiles that simulate fair-faced brickwork, while the windows have concrete surrounds expressed as geometric shapes. The base of the building is treated in a mix of travertine marble cladding, and granite blocks in random coursing. The eye-catching pitched roof is clad using green-blue glazed tiles that form a pleasing contrast with the brick façade. The natural colours of the building materials were incorporated as part of the colour scheme, and give a homely feel that is different from the rest of the more institutional Military buildings of the site.
This creates a clear distinction between the top, body and the base of the building.
The building features asymmetrical composition of the façade with interlocking rectangular volumes. The solidness of the Beach Road façade is enlivened with protruding thin concrete ledges and long continuous horizontal bands of windows of slender mild-steel profiles. As part of its tropical design, the building has a huge gable roof and recessed windows. The rear verandah was constructed in thin barrel-vaulted reinforced concrete that forms a pleasing counterpoint of curves.
Within the building is a meeting hall that is lit using well-proportioned recessed vertical windows on upper floors. The interior of the hall features the use of coloured marble planning that is typical of the period. Other notable details include a screen of mild-steel and copper grilles at the rear verandah.
As a result of greater public interest in the conservation of more modern buildings in Singapore as well as landmarks of social and community history, the Urban Redevelopment Authority set up the Conservation Advisory Panel in June 2002 to provide more public input and participation on its building conservation programme. The former NCO Club and Blocks 1, 9, 14 of the former Beach Road Camp - were among the first set of buildings that the panel evaluated and recommended for conservation.
The conservation of these buildings has helped to retain the identity of the area and create a distinctive streetscape along the stretch of Beach Road from the Gateway Towers to War Memorial Park. The buildings mark the architectural evolution of Military buildings in Singapore, and more importantly, they are testament to the turbulent political events of the early 20th century in Singapore that led to the eventual independence of our country. The buildings also are reminders of the history of the sacrifice that many have made in the course of protecting our land.
Gazetted for conservation on 9 October 2002.