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Memories of 7 Singapore hotels that faded into history
With Hotel Miramar set to close, here's a look at other Singapore hotels that have also left their mark.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-hotels-have-closer-hotel-miramar-5330341
Sloane Court Hotel, which closed in 2017. (Photo: Facebook/Sloane Court Hotel)
SINGAPORE: News of Hotel Miramar's impending closure has sparked a wave of memories - from guests who once stayed the night, to employees who built their careers, diners who flocked to its buffets and couples who celebrated their weddings.
As the Havelock Road icon prepares to bow out of the hospitality scene, we look back at other Singapore hotels that have since faded into history.
Sloane Court Hotel
Tucked away on Balmoral Road, the Sloane Court Hotel was a slice of the English countryside just around the corner from Orchard Road.
It had a Tudor-style facade and interiors that would not be out of place in an old rural pub.
According to The Straits Times, the hotel was opened by a Hainanese businessman named Chiam Heng Luan, who also operated the famed Captain's Cabin restaurant in Serangoon Gardens.
Mr Chiam initially envisioned it as a mini four-unit apartment complex, but he decided in 1962 to instead turn the project into a boarding house, which eventually became a 32-room hotel.
Most will probably remember Sloane Court for its restaurant, The Berkeley Restaurant, which served up Western and Hainanese dishes like oxtail stew, pork chops and fried bee hoon.
The Sloane Court Hotel and an adjoining plot of land were bought by Tiong Seng Holdings and Ocean Sky International in August 2017, and the hotel closed its doors in November of that year after a run of more than half a century.
The Sloane Residences condominium complex now stands at its address.
Copthorne Orchid Hotel
Copthorne Orchid Hotel previously stood on Dunearn Road next to Raffles Town Club, which itself will be shuttered in the near future.
It opened in 1970 as the Orchid Inn, intending to cater more to foreign citizens working in Singapore rather than tourists, according to a Straits Times report from July that year.
The hotel was purchased by the Hong Leong Group's City Developments from the Pontiac group in the early 1970s, according to a Business Times report from May 1999, which speculated that the property was going to be turned into a condominium.
It was renamed Novotel Orchid Inn in 1982, before it took on its final name in 1998, according to the National Heritage Board's Roots.gov.sg website.
The sprawling six-storey hotel had 440 rooms and housed a number of restaurants that served up a wide variety of cuisines over the years. These included Palm's Asian Brasserie, known for its Peranakan buffets, North Indian restaurant Heritage and Japanese establishment Kiku, as well as Wienerwald and La Pescadou, which provided guests with a taste of Austria and France, respectively.
It also hosted performances from local singers Huang Qing Yuan and Wang Li, according to an October 2010 Business Times report.
As it turned out, the hotel would indeed be replaced by a condominium complex eventually.
It welcomed its last guests in March 2011 and was subsequently demolished to make way for a condo called the Glyndebourne.
Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay
Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay opened in October 1984 as Hotel New Otani.
It was part of the Liang Court complex along the Singapore River that had a Japanese flavour – the hotel was under the management of a Japanese company, and the complex included a mall which housed department store Daimaru and subsequently supermarket Meidi-Ya.
The hotel became a Novotel in December 2004, according to Roots.gov.sg.
The New Otani brand is still around, however. New Otani Hotels currently manages 15 hotels – 14 in Japan and one in China.
Developed by tycoon Goh Cheng Liang and his family, the complex eventually ended up in the hands of a consortium that was led by City Developments Limited and CapitaLand and included the Ascott Residence Trust in 2019, according to a Straits Times report from November of that year.
It was here that the story of Liang Court and Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay would end.
The complex was vacated in 2020 and demolished in 2021 to make way for a new mixed-use development called Canninghill Piers.
Lion City Hotel
Located at the junction of Geylang Road and Tanjong Katong Road, Lion City Hotel was developed by tycoon Wee Thiam Siew.
It was opened in 1968 by Dr Goh Keng Swee in his capacity as Singapore's finance minister, according to Roots.gov.sg.
Standing at 10 storeys tall, the hotel had 168 rooms and housed a restaurant called Happy Restaurant and a coffee house that served Peranakan cuisine and other local fare and was known for its buffets.
At its foot was a shopping arcade, and adjacent to it were Hollywood Theatre and Hin Hollywood Canteen.
UOL acquired the hotel and the by-then former cinema in January 2011, according to PropertyGuru.
In their place today is the mixed-use development Kinex.
New 7th Storey Hotel
Developed by the same man behind Lion City Hotel, Wee Thiam Siew, the New 7th Storey Hotel was located on Rochor Road and, in fact, had nine floors.
The hotel opened in 1953, and it was initially a high-end hotel that was popular with businessmen and politicians. It was also a go-to place for British servicemen, Roots.gov.sg said, who patronised a pub on its premises and attended parties there.
Later, it became a budget hotel that was notable for its spiral staircase and manually operated cage lift – a quaint relic by the time the hotel was slated for demolition in 2008.
It was also known for its charcoal steamboat eatery, while a briefly prominent attraction, the DHL Balloon, was located just next door.
The Land Transport Authority said in 2008 that there was no alternative but to demolish the hotel to expand Bugis MRT station during the construction of the Downtown Line, and it was torn down in 2009.
