Grand Hotel de l’Europe



Singapore Infopedia

Background

The Grand Hotel de l’Europe was one of the finest hotels in Singapore at the turn of the 20th century.1 It was situated at the corner of the Esplanade (Padang)2 and High Street, next to the Municipal Building (City Hall) and overlooked the Esplanade.3 The hotel’s palatial architecture made it a prominent landmark in the city’s landscape. The Renaissance-style hotel covered nearly one acre of land, with distinctive two-storey-high Corinthian columns.4 The hotel shuttered in October 1932, and the company went into liquidation.5 The building was subsequently demolished to make way for the Supreme Court building, which opened in 1939.

History
The beginnings of the hotel can be traced back to 1857 when Frenchman J. Casteleyns started a modest establishment called Hotel d’Europe on Hill Street.6 In 1860, the hotel was relocated to Beach Road.7 It moved again in 1865, when Casteleyns occupied the Hotel de l’Esperance premises at the corner of High Street and the Esplanade and renamed it Hotel d’Europe.8


The Hotel de l’Esperance was previously known as London Hotel, which had been established in 1839 by Gaston Dutronquoy. Originally located in Commercial Square (Raffles Place), it moved to Coleman Street in late 1841. Three years later, it moved again to the corner of High Street and the Esplanade.9 After Dutronquoy left Singapore, the hotel was taken over by a Frenchwoman, Madame Esperanza, in 1858 who renamed it Hotel de l’Esperance.10 Thereafter, it was taken over and renamed Hotel d’Europe by Casteleyns in 1865.11 The Hotel d’Europe would change many hands and have slight changes to its name over the next few decades, but it remained on that site until its closure in 1932.

Casteleyns managed the Hotel d’Europe until 1869, when it was taken over by Mrs Hjelmstrom and Mrs Becker.12 In 1871, C. A. Hjelmstrom and A. Becker took over the proprietorship of Hotel d’Europe.13 By 1875, Becker had become the sole proprietor of the hotel,14 and by 1877 the hotel was renamed Hotel de l’Europe.15 In August that same year, Becker sold the lease and furniture of the hotel for $40,000, a considerable sum at the time.16 On 1 January 1878, Wilhelm Heinrich Ludwig Siegfried, or H. W. Siegfried, took over the management of the hotel.17

In 1881, Becker returned from Europe and became proprietor of the Hotel de l’Europe alongside Siegfried.18 The partnership eventually dissolved and Becker became the hotel’s sole proprietor again in March 1889,19 until his sudden death in 1892.20 Mrs Becker owned the hotel from 1898 until 1904 when the lease was bought over by a hotel syndicate for redevelopment.21 The syndicate was owned by Sam Tomlinson, who used to be a municipal engineer, and Chye Tian Fook, a former draughtsman in Tomlinson’s department.22 The redevelopment aimed to convert Hotel de l’Europe into a modern, up-to-date hotel that would continue attracting visitors.23

The demolition and rebuilding of the hotel began in 1904 and was projected to finish in three years. The building would remain partially occupied during the redevelopment.24 In November 1905, businessman Nissim Nassim Adis signed an agreement with the contractor rebuilding the hotel which made him responsible for the construction cost thereafter.25 In July 1906, part of the new hotel was opened to the public.26 However, Adis only gained possession of the entire hotel premises on 7 August 1907 when the hotel finished rebuilding that year.27 In Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, published in 1908 – a landmark book providing information on Singapore’s history, commerce and industries in the early 20th century – Adis was referred to as the hotel’s proprietor.28

In 1910, the hotel changed hands again when the Grand Hotel de l’Europe, Limited was registered as a company.29 By 1913, the hotel had been taken over by Europe Hotel Limited, and Grand Hotel de l’Europe was renamed The Europe Hotel. The company would own the hotel until its closure in 1932.30

The hotel served as a sanctuary for women and children during the 1915 mutiny of the 5th Light Infantry.31

Description
By the 1880s, the Grand Hotel de l’Europe was the largest and best-known hotel in Singapore.32 On par with the Raffles Hotel, it had the reputation of being one of the finest hotels in Asia.33 A long-standing maxim of the 1920s was that tourists stayed at the Raffles while European colonials stayed at the Grand Hotel de l’Europe.34


Prior to its redevelopment in 1904, the original hotel building was described to have a “barn-like erection jutting into the road-way”, which proved an eyesore to residents. However, the bar and billiard room were noted to still catch visitors’ eyes.35

The 1907 version of the hotel was built and furnished at a cost of $1 million.36 It comprised detached pavilions with large airy rooms, including a central pavilion where visitors dined and one at the entrance for recreation, all with wide verandahs and punkahs (manually operated fans).37 The hotel’s ground floor facade consisted of a series of segmental arches between massive rusticated piers, forming a colonnade in front of the different areas. The floor was paved with encaustic tiles that gave a bright but cool appearance.38

The hotel’s interior was simple and designed for the tropical climate. The high ceilings and Doric columns made the hotel as open as possible. Where feasible, arches were built instead of doors.39

Each of the 120 bedrooms had a private balcony, a dressing room and a private bath with large shanghai jars for storing bathwater.40

Facilities and services
Before being rebuilt, the Hotel de l’Europe was a modest hotel with 30 rooms.41 According to a visitor to the hotel in the 1870s, there was an American bar-room attached to the main building, as well as a billiard room. There was also a reading room that contained an extensive collection of papers and journals in five languages from various cities including New York, London, Calcutta, Shanghai and Yokohama.42

After its redevelopment in 1907, the Grand Hotel de l’Europe was advertised to be “modern in construction” and offering necessities “conducive to health and comfort”.43 The new hotel boasted modern conveniences such as electric lights, fans and a lift.44 In addition, it had its own horse-drawn carriages to provide transport from the hotel to the pier at Tanjong Pagar.45

The hotel was known for its fine dining.46 Occupying 1,000 sq ft of space on the ground floor, the dining room had an open concept and was almost column-free.47 Known as the Bird Cage Dining Room, it was presented as having “the finest view east of Suez”.48 The hotel also had a large roof garden.49 The hotel’s strategic location made it a popular destination for the European community.50 In 1920, a ladies lounge and tea room were opened.51

With its first-class facilities and services, the daily rate for a room with bath and food included was priced from 12 Straits dollars, or 30 shillings sterling, in 1924.52 This equates to approximately £182 today.53 The interior rooms cost 10 Straits dollars per day, and the suites were more expensive.54

The part of the hotel that faced High Street was rented out as shops, while the upper floors served as rooms. Among the shops was Continental Stamp Company, the predecessor of Stamp Mart.55

Throughout its history, the hotel saw many prominent guests such as royalty from around the world.56

Closure
Though once the hub of Singapore’s social activities,57 the hotel fell behind the times and ran into financial difficulties a few years by the late 1920s.58 The Europe Hotel closed its doors in October 1932.59 The building stood empty for some time while various entities attempted to raise funds to erect a new modern hotel on the site.60 Even though several redevelopment plans were proposed, funds were lacking and the projects fell through.61 The land owner, the Catholic Portuguese Mission, thus decided to demolish the hotel. Its plan was to build a block of modern service flats until a new hotel company could be formed.62 However, when construction was underway, the government began negotiations for the land,63 which was subsequently acquired for the Supreme Court building.64

Variant name
Malay: Punchaus besar65


Timeline
1857: Hotel d’Europe is established on Hill Street by Casteleyns.

1860: Hotel d’Europe is relocated to Beach Road.
1865: Hotel d’Europe takes over Hotel de l’Esperance premises near the Padang.
1869: Ownership of Hotel d’Europe is taken over by Mrs Hjelmstrom and Mrs Becker.
1871: C. A. Hjelmstrom and A. Becker become proprietors of Hotel d’Europe.
Jan 1878: Wilhelm Heinrich Ludwig Siegfried becomes proprietor of Hotel de l’Europe.
1881: Becker becomes proprietor of the Hotel de l’Europe alongside Siegfried.
Mar 1889: Becker becomes sole proprietor of Hotel de l’Europe.
Oct 1892: Becker dies. Records do not show who takes over the hotel immediately after his death.
1898: Mrs Becker is proprietress of Hotel de l’Europe.
May 1900: The Municipal Commissioners acquire the land and building at the eastern side of Hotel de l’Europe.
1903: The hotel is acquired by a hotel syndicate for redevelopment.
1904: Redevelopment of the Hotel de l’Europe begins.
Nov 1905: Nissim Nassim Adis enters into agreement with contractor building the hotel. He is responsible for construction costs thereafter.
Aug 1907: Adis is given possession of the entire hotel premises.
1910–1913: Grand Hotel de l‘Europe Limited is registered as a company.
1913–1932: Europe Hotel Limited is registered as a company.
1932: The Europe Hotel ceases operations.
1934: The hotel is demolished to make way for a block of modern service flats.
1935: Government’s acquisition of the land is completed.
1939: The Supreme Court building is completed on the site.



Authors
Joshua Chia Yeong Jia & Andrea Kee Hwee Yee



References
1. Gretchen Liu, Singapore: A Pictorial History, 18192000 (Singapore: Archipelago Press; National Heritage Board, 1999), 46, 123 (Call no. RSING 959.57 LIU-[HIS]); Charles Burton Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1984), 716. (Call no. RSING 959.57 BUC-[HIS])
2. National Archives of Singapore, Map of Singapore Showing the Principal Residences and Places of Interests, 1913, survey map, National Archives of Singapore (accession no. SP006064)
3. “Recognise One? What about the Other?” Straits Times, 8 June 1980, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
4. Arnold Wright and H. A. Cartwright, eds., Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources (London: Lloyd’s Greater Britain Pub., 1908), 944–46. (Call no. RCLOS 959.51033 TWE)
5. “The Europe Hotel Closes,” Straits Times, 30 October 1932, 11; “Europe Site Award Settled,” Straits Times, 5 January 1935, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
6. Singapore Almanack & Directory for the Year 1858 (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 1858), 61; The Straits Calendar and Directory for the Year 1865 (1865). (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 1865), 46. (From BookSG)
7. The Royal Almanack & Directory for the Year 1860 (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 1860), 69. (From BookSG)
8. Straits Calendar and Directory for the Year 1865, 46; “Singapore’s Hotels of Yesterday,” Straits Times, 6 August 1933, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
9. “Page 1 Advertisements Column 2,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1835–1869), 29 February 1844, 1 (From NewspaperSG); John Falconer, A Vision of the Past: A History of Early Photography in Singapore and Malaya: The Photographs of G. R. Lambert & Co., 1880–1910 (Singapore: Times Editions, 1987), 11. (Call no. RSING 779.995957 FAL)
10. “Singapore’s Hotels of Yesterday”; “Page 2 Advertisements Column 5,” Straits Times, 6 March 1858, 2. (From NewspaperSG)
11. Straits Calendar and Directory for the Year 1865, 46; “Singapore’s Hotels of Yesterday.”
12. The Straits Calendar and Directory for the Year 1869 (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 1869), 48. (From BookSG)
13. The Straits Calendar and Directory for the Year 1871 (Singapore: Commercial Press, 1871), 54. (From BookSG)
14. The Colonial Directory of the Straits Settleents for 1875 (Singapore: Mission Press, 1875), D6, K2. (From BookSG)
15. The Singapore Directory for the Straits Settlements 1877 (Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1877), 96. (From BookSG)
16. “Tuesday, 28th August,” Straits Times, 1 September 1877, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
17. “Page 2 Advertisements Column 2,” Singapore Daily Times, 10 January 1878, 2. (From NewspaperSG)
18. “Page 3 Advertisements Column 1,” Singapore Daily Times, 24 January 1881, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
19. “Page 2 Advertisements Column 4,” Straits Times, 2 March 1889, 2. (From NewspaperSG)
20. “‘The School for Manners’,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 18 October 1892, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
21. “An Excise Case,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (Weekly), 8 February 1898, 90; “1903,” Straits Times, 31 December 1903, 1; “Untitled,” Straits Times, 23 December 1903, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
22. Julian Davidson, Swan and Maclaren: A Story of Singapore Architecture (Singapore: National Archives of Singapore, 2020), 136 (Call no. 720.95957 DAV);  1903,” “Untitled.”
23. “1903.”
24. “The Hotel de l’Europe,” Straits Times, 2 March 1904, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
25. “Hotel Europe Case,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (Weekly), 20 August 1908, 117. (From NewspaperSG)
26. “The Hotel de l’Europe,” Eastern Daily Mail and Straits Morning Advertiser, 24 April 1906, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
27. “Building a Hotel,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (Weekly), 13 August 1908, 100. (From NewspaperSG)
28. Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 946.
29. “The Grand Hotel de L’Europe,” Straits Times, 23 March 1910, 6. (From NewspaperSG)
30. Registry of Companies, The Europe Hotel Limited, 1913–32, National Archives of Singapore (record no. ROC 6-1913); “Europe Hotel Closes.”
31. “Europe Hotel Closes.”
32. Liu, Pictorial History, 18192000, 123.
33. Michael Wise and Mun Him Wise, Travellers’ Tales of Old Singapore (Brighton: In Print Publishing, 1996), 187−88 (Call no. RSING 959.57 TRA-[HIS]); Liu, Pictorial History, 18192000, 123.
34. “Recognise One? What about the Other?” Straits Times, 8 June 1980, 14 (From NewspaperSG); Maurizio Peleggi, “The Social and Material Life of Colonial Hotels: Comfort Zones as Contact Zones in British Colombo and Singapore, CA. 1870–1930,”Journal of Social History 46, no. 1 (Fall 2012): 140. (From JSTOR via NLB’s eResources website) 
35. “Hotel de l’Europe,” Straits Times, 17 May 1904, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
36. Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 944–96.
37. Reena Singh, A Journey through Singapore: Travellers’ Impressions of a By-Gone Time (Singapore: Landmark Books, 1995), 96. (Call no. RSING 959.57 REE-[HIS])
38. Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 944–46.
39. Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 944–46.
40. “Recognise One?”; Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 944–46.
41. Peleggi, “The Social and Material Life of Colonial Hotels,” 130.
42. Frank Vincent, The Land of the White Elephant: Sights and Scenes in South-east Asia 18711872 (Oxford: Oxford University Press in association with the Siam Society, 1988), 102−03. (Call no. RSEA 959.03 VIN)
43. “Page 1 Advertisements Column 4,” Straits Times, 12 July 1907, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
44. Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 944–46.
45. “Recognise One?
46. “Grand Hotel de l’Europe,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (Weekly), 31 October 1907, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
47. Wright and Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya, 944–46.
48. “Recognise One?
49. Maya Jayapal, Old Singapore (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1992), 27. (Call no. RSING 959.57 JAY-[HIS]); “Hotel de l’Europe,” Straits Times, 8 December 1906, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
50. John Bertram Van Cuylenburg, Singapore: Through Sunshine and Shadow (Singapore: Heinemann Asia, 1982), 33−34. (Call no. RSING 959.57 VAN-[HIS])
51. “Untitled,” Straits Times, 2 September 1920, 6. (From NewspaperSG)
52. Wise and Wise, Travellers’ Tales of Old Singapore, 187–88.
53. “Measuring Worth Is a Complicated Question,” MeasuringWorth, accessed 29 October 2020.
54. Wise and Wise, Travellers’ Tales of Old Singapore, 187–88.
55. Van Cuylenburg, Through Sunshine and Shadow, 33–34.
56. “Europe Hotel Closes.”
57. “Demolition of Old Europe Hotel,” Straits Times, 31 October 1933, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
58. “Europe Hotel Closes.”
59. “Europe Hotel Closes.”
60. “Future of Europe Hotel,” Straits Times, 22 September 1932, 12 (From Newspaper); “Europe Site Award Settled.”
61. “Europe Site Award Settled.”
62. “Government to Acquire Europe Hotel Site,” Straits Times, 15 April 1934, 12; “New Scheme for Europe Hotel,” Straits Times, 24 July 1933, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
63. “Government to Acquire Europe Hotel Site”; “Fate of Europe Hotel Site,” Straits Times, 7 November 1934, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
64. “Europe Site Award Settled”; “The Supreme Court,” (1939, July 20). Straits Times, 20 July 1939, 10(From NewspaperSG)
65. G. M. Reith, Handbook to Singapore: With Map and a Plan of the Botanic Gardens (Singapore: Singapore and Straits Print. Office, 1892), 36. (From BookSG)



Further resources
Between the Lines: Early Print Advertising in Singapore, 1830s–1960s (Singapore: National Library Board, 2018). (Call no. RSING 659.1095957 BET)

Decision to Wind-Up Europe Hotel,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 16 September 1932, 7. (From NewspaperSG)

Hotel de l’Europe Reduces Rates,” Eastern Daily Mail and Straits Morning Advertiser, 22 February 1906, 3. (From NewspaperSG)

Jason Toh, Singapore through 19th Century Photographs (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2009). (Call no. RSING 959.5703 TOH-[HIS])



The information in this article is valid as of December 2020 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic. 

 

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