SENIOR Minister Goh Chok Tong has an affinity with one of
Singapore's iconic landmarks, the Fullerton Hotel. This is because
he had started his civil service career there in the 1960s.
He shared this at a book launch on Wednesday at the Fullerton
Hotel, where he said, 'One memory was the occasional lunch I had at
the simple canteen at the roof-top.' Coming back to the hotel, SM
Goh said he 'felt nostalgic about the building'.
The coffee table book, titled 'The Fullerton Heritage',
chronicles the transformation of the building which was first built
in 1928. It served as the Government Post Office and was home to a
number of government agencies until it was bought over by property
developer Sino Land to be redeveloped into a hotel in 2001.
Although $400 million was spent on restoring the architecture of
the building, the exquisite beauty that the building now exudes has
not made former employees forget its sorry state in the 1960s and
1970s.
'It was filthy, with rats running around and with cobwebs,' says
former civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow, 73, who worked there from 1959
to 1974.
The Fullerton Hotel has earned itself a prominent place along
the Singapore skyline and is managed by The Fullerton Heritage. The
Fullerton Heritage counts the Fullerton Hotel, Fullerton Bay Hotel,
the Fullerton Waterboat House, Customs House, One Fullerton and
Clifford Pier as part of its 1.4 million sq feet property ring.
-- ST