Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall

The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (Chinese: 维多利亚剧院及音乐会堂) is a complex of two buildings and a clock tower joined together by a common corridor and located in the civic district of Singapore.

History

The complex started off with the building of a town hall in 1862. Built during an era of Victorian Revivalism was occurring in Britain, its design reflected this architectural influence with Italianate windows and rusticated columns, and was the first building to reflect this style in Singapore's buildings.

In 1901, construction for a neighbouring building began in memory of the late Queen Victoria, with the foundation laid in 1902 and officially opened by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir John Anderson on 18 October 1905 as the Victoria Memorial Hall. Public funds for its construction amounting to $368,000 were collected, exceeding the construction costs, and leaving a surplus of $22,000 for refurbishments.

The memorial hall was designed by Major Alexander Murray and the Public Works Department, with additional input by R. A. J. Bidwell from an architectural firm, Swan & Maclaren to harmonise it with the neighbouring town hall. The town hall was also renovated, thus creating a unified appearance by 1909. In 1906, the signature clock tower was added. Standing between the two buildings and connecting the them with a common corridor, it rises to a height of 54 metres, and is topped by a timepiece donated by the Straits Trading Company. The tower is built on an axial line with the Anderson Bridge nearby.

On 6 February 1919, which marked the Centenary of Singapore's founding, a statue of Stamford Raffles by T. Woolner was moved from the Padang to the front of the memorial hall. The statue was complimented with a new semicircular colonnade and a pool.

In the lead up to World War II, the memorial hall was used as a hospital for victims of bombing raids by the Japanese forces during the Battle of Singapore before their successful occupation of the colony. During the occupation, the buildings themselves escaped major physical damage, although the colonnade was destroyed, and Raffles's statue moved to the National Museum. At the end of the war, the statue was returned to its original site in 1946. The hall also served as the venue for Japanese war crime trials.

In 1954, the memorial hall underwent renovations by Swan & Maclaren, and on 21 November, it was the venue where the People's Action Party was founded. The town hall was also heavily renovated and air-conditioned as the Victoria Theatre. In 1979, the memorial hall was renovated again to accommodate the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), upon which it was renamed as the Victoria Concert Hall. Additional works up to the 1980s added a gallery to the Concert Hall, adding seating capacity and enclosing the second storey balconies on the front and back facades with glass.

The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall was gazetted as a national monument on 14 February, 1992.

Existing facilities

The Victoria Theatre has a seating capacity of 904, with a stage 167.28 square metres in size. The Victoria Concert Hall has 883 seats, and a stage which may be expanded up to 139.76 square metres in area. The concert hall was considered the venue with the best acoustics in the city, and has been the main performance venue for the SSO until the completion of the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in 2002 whereby the orchestra moved its home base to take advantage of superior acoustics and facilities brought about by technological and architectural advances over the years.

External links

* [http://www.vch.org.sg/ Victoria Concert Hall]
* [http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_getdata.pl?actno=1903-REVED-342&doctitle=VICTORIA%20THEATRE%20ACT%0a&date=latest&method=whole Victoria Theater Act]
* [http://www.can.com.sg/content/neocan/en/streetwise/unwind/paint_the_town_red/red___white_buildings.html Red & White Buildings in Singapore]
* [http://itclub.vs.moe.edu.sg/cyberfair2003/landmarks/victoriatheatre.html Historical Landmarks]
* [http://www.nac.gov.sg/dir/dir0101.asp#vict Performing arts venues]