Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Raffles Hotel was the quintessential symbol of the British Empire in the Far East. It was established by two Armenian brothers—Martin and Tigran Sarkies—in 1887. In later years they were joined by younger brothers Aviet and Arshak and kinsman Martyrose Arathoon.

They also founded the Strand Hotel in Rangoon and the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang, which can be seen on my Pinterest sites.

The Sarkies Borthers built the hotel into arguably what is Singapore's best known icon, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore,

The original location was by the seaside on Beach Road, although land reclamation means that the site is now 500 metres away from the shore. The hotel was noted for accepting guests of all races.

It was designed by the architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell of Swan and Maclaren, and the current main building of Raffles Hotel - seen here - was completed in 1899.

The hotel continued to expand over the years. but the Depression spelled trouble for Raffles Hotel and, in 1931, the hotel went into receivership. In 1933, the financial troubles were resolved and Raffles Hotel Ltd. was established.

Upon the start of the Japanese occupation of Singapore on 15 February 1942, the story was that the Japanese soldiers encountered the guests in Raffles Hotel dancing one final waltz. During World War II, Raffles Hotel was renamed Syonan Ryokan, incorporating Syonan ("Light of the South"), the Japanese name for occupied Singapore, and ryokan, the name for a traditional Japanese inn. At the end of the war, the hotel was used as a transit camp for prisoners of war.

In 1987, the Singapore government declared the hotel a National Monument, and over the next few years the hotel was renovated and re-opened on 16 September 1991; restored magnificently to the grand style of its heyday in 1915.

The 'Long Bar', where the Singapore Sling cocktail drink was invented, and which was patronised by the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Somerset Maugham, was relocated from the lobby to a new position.