Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style hotel in Singapore, dating from 1887, and named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. It is known for its luxurious accommodation and superb restaurants.
History
The hotel was founded by four Armenian brothers: Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak Sarkies. They opened the 10-room colonial bungalow at Beach and Bras Basah Roads on 1 December 1887. The hotel continued to expand over the years with the addition of wings, the completion of the main building, the addition of a verandah, a ballroom, a bar and billiards room and further buildings and rooms.
The Great Depression saw trouble for Raffles Hotel and in 1931 the hotel went into receivership. In 1933, however, the financial troubles were sorted out and a public company called Raffles Hotel Ltd. was established.
The hotel survived World War II despite the hardships Singapore faced and the use of the hotel at the end of the war as a transit camp for war prisoners and in 1987 the government declared it a National Monument.
In 1989 the hotel closed for an extensive renovation. It reopened on 16 September 1991, returned to the glory of its heyday in 1915 and has continued to expand with the addition of a shopping arcade and new rooms.
Claim to fame (or infamy)
Raffles Hotel is particularly famous for two things:
- It is reputedly where the sole surviving wild tiger in Singapore was shot and made extinct. Some stories place this event-of-shame in the Long Bar. Raffles itself claims the tiger was chased underneath the Bar & Billiard Room (a raised structure) and shot to death there in August 1902.
- Raffles is where the Singapore Sling was invented. The cocktail was invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in approximately1910.
Famous visitors and guests
Famous visitors and guests of the hotel include:
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