Telok Ayer Market
Encyclopedia
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and is located in Downtown Core
Downtown Core
The Downtown Core is a 266-hectare urban planning area in the south of the city-state of Singapore. The Downtown Core surrounds the mouth of the Singapore River and southeastern portion of its watershed, and is part of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district...
within the Central Area
Central Area
In Singapore, the Central Area or Central Business District contains the core financial and commercial districts, including eleven urban planning areas, namely Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South, Museum, Newton, Orchard, Outram, River Valley, Rochor, Singapore River and Straits View as...
, Singapore's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
. It is currently a food centre. There are several shops inside the market such as a 24 hours Cheers Store, a shoe repair shop, a tailor and a laundry store. In the evenings on the weekend a live band plays at the stage in the middle of the market.
Etymology
In the early nineteenth century, Telok Ayer Market was a simple wooden building, located on pilesDeep foundation
A deep foundation is a type of foundation distinguished from shallow foundations by the depth they are embedded into the ground. There are many reasons a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, but some of the common reasons are very large design loads, a...
just over the waters of Telok Ayer Bay and hence the market's name. The Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
name Telok Ayer means "water bay" as the coastal road Telok Ayer Street lies alongside the bay.
Because of its Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
structure, the market is referred to in Malay as pasar besi (iron market).
History
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
was located at the south bank of the Singapore River
Singapore River
The Singapore River is a river in Singapore with great historical importance. The Singapore River flows from the Central Area, which lies in the Central Region in the southern part of Singapore before emptying into the ocean...
. When the government acquired that land for more lucrative commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
use in 1823, the market was moved to Telok Ayer Street.
When Telok Ayer Market first opened in 1825, it extended over the sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
. Jetties leading from the market allowed produce to be loaded and unloaded directly onto boat
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
s. The simple 30-feet by 80-feet timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
and attap
Nypa fruticans
Nypa fruticans, known as the attap palm , nipa palm , and mangrove palm or buah atap , buah nipah , dừa nước , Ging Pol in Sinhala in Sri Lanka and gol pata , dani . It is the only palm considered a mangrove in the Mangroves Biome...
structure that rested on timber piles
Deep foundation
A deep foundation is a type of foundation distinguished from shallow foundations by the depth they are embedded into the ground. There are many reasons a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, but some of the common reasons are very large design loads, a...
was not sturdy enough to face the elements. It was repaired and remained in use for several more years until 1836 when a bigger market was needed.
Architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
George Drumgoole Coleman
George Drumgoole Coleman
George Drumgoole Coleman , also known as George Drumgold Coleman, was an Irish civil architect who played an instrumental role in the design and construction of much of the civil infrastructure in Singapore, after the island was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819.Born in Drogheda County Louth,...
conceptualised an octagonal building with ornamental column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s at the entrance. This market stood until 1879, when land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
called for its demolition.
Telok Ayer Market was revived yet again in 1894. Designed by Municipal Engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
James MacRitchie and built on newly reclaimed land, the new building is more or less as it appears today.
Adopting Coleman's octagonal shape, MacRitchie added cast-iron supports to strengthen the structure. In the centre of the market, he incorporated a fountain
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
which remained at Telok Ayer Market until 1920, when it was moved to the now non-existent Orchard Road
Orchard Road
Orchard Road is a road in Singapore that is the retail and entertainment hub of the city-state. It is regularly frequented by the local population as well as being a major tourist attraction...
Market.
By the early 1970s, the area around Telok Ayer Market — Shenton Way
Shenton Way
Shenton Way is a major trunk road in Singapore's central business district, most known for the commercial skyscrapers flanking both sides of the road. The Road is a one way street which starts at the junction of Cross Street, Central Boulevard and Raffles Quay and ends at Keppel Road...
, Robinson Road
Robinson Road, Singapore
Robinson Road is a major trunk road in Singapore's central business district. Named after Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson, then Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1877, it was once a sea-side thoroughfare until land reclamation works in Telok Ayer Basin shifted the shoreline further east...
, Cecil Street and Raffles Place
Raffles Place
Raffles Place is a geographical location in Singapore, south of the mouth of the Singapore River. Located in the Downtown Core and the Central Area, it features some of the tallest buildings and landmarks of the country.-History:...
— had swelled into a busy commercial district with sparkling new skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s. In 1973, the market was converted into a hawker
Hawker (trade)
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with peddler or costermonger. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items or food that are native to the area...
centre and by 1986, it was closed to make way for a new Mass Rapid Transit
Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
The Mass Rapid Transit or MRT is a rapid transit system that forms the backbone of the railway system in Singapore, spanning the entire city-state. The initial section of the MRT, between Yio Chu Kang Station and Toa Payoh Station, opened in 1987 establishing itself as the second-oldest metro...
(MRT) line. The building's historical and architectural value was recognised and its signature cast-iron supports were put into storage.
Telok Ayer Market was reconstructed for the last time in the late 1980s, when tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
ling work for the MRT was completed. The latest building remains true to MacRitchie's and Coleman's designs and the cast-iron supports have been reinstated.
Renamed Lau Pa Sat, the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
name by which most Singaporeans refer to the market, the old market reopened in 1991 as a festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
market, a supposedly modern food court catering to office workers and tourists. The owner was Rafiq Jumabhoy's Renaissance Property (part of now defunct Scotts Holding). The grandeos food court was opened with a lot of fanfare and wide media publicity. But it soon became a flop, business dropped a few weeks after it opened, due largely to poor ventilation (no air conditioning). Lau Par Sat was later taken over in 1995 by Kopitiam - another food court operator, and still in operation today albeit messier than Festival Market. Lau Par Sat was gazette
Gazette
A gazette is a public journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.In English- and French-speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name Gazette since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name The Gazette.Gazette is a loanword from the...
d as a national monument
National Monuments of Singapore
National Monuments of Singapore are buildings and structures in Singapore that have been designated by the Preservation of Monuments Board as being of special historic, traditional, archaeological, architectural or artistic value....
on 6 July 1973.
Architecture
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
by P&W MacLellan, who had also made the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
for the Cavenagh Bridge
Cavenagh Bridge
Cavenagh Bridge is the only suspension bridge and one of the oldest bridges in Singapore, spanning the lower reaches of the Singapore River in the Downtown Core...
in 1868. This may be true, but the great cast-iron columns which support the structure clearly bear the maker's mark of W. MacFarlane and Co., also of Glasgow.
The use of cast iron for the structure, as well as for decorative reasons, is typically Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
. Slender columns are topped with composite capital
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
s supporting truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es with filigree
Filigree
Filigree is a delicate kind of jewellery metalwork made with twisted threads usually of gold and silver or stitching of the same curving motifs. It often suggests lace, and in recent centuries remains popular in Indian and other Asian metalwork, and French from 1660 to the late 19th century...
-like infills. The cast-iron archway
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
s and fretted eaves
Eaves
The eaves of a roof are its lower edges. They usually project beyond the walls of the building to carry rain water away.-Etymology:"Eaves" is derived from Old English and is both the singular and plural form of the word.- Function :...
bracket
Bracket
Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:...
s are good examples of the craftsmanship of the day. It was erected by Riley Hargreaves & Co. (now United Engineers).