SINGAPORE — As major renovations of the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) got underway recently, some members of the public and St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) alumni were rather alarmed that parts of the building were being torn down.

The older parts of the building complex in Bras Basah Road, dating back to 1867, are gazetted as a national monument and used to be the home of the SJI campus.

Mr Conrad Raj, who graduated from SJI in 1965, told TODAY on Friday (Nov 29) that he had noticed wrecking balls knocking down structures at the museum while passing by on a bus about a week ago.

“I said: ‘Hey, this is not part of the plan’. They just said it was a revamp.”

Mr Raj was referring to the 2017 closure of the SAM, a museum for contemporary Southeast Asian art so that it could undergo a S$90 million facelift.

But it turns out the concerns of Mr Raj and others are unfounded. In a notice on its website, the SAM states: “Demolish SAM? We wouldn’t dare.” The notice goes on to explain that the buildings being demolished are much more recent additions, built for the museum in the 1990s, and not part of the old SJI campus.

Formerly known as St John’s School, SJI, which is the oldest Catholic boys’ school in Singapore, was set up at Bras Basah Road in 1852 before it moved to its current campus at Malcolm Road in 1988. The Bras Basah Road campus was gazetted as a national monument in 1992.

The museum’s second site, the SAM at 8Q, occupies the former premises of Catholic High School in Queen Street and, as it happens, is also closed for renovation works.

“In 2017, when (the museum) announced the revamp, they didn’t say anything about major demolition works to be carried out,” said Mr Raj, a 72-year-old retiree.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a SAM spokesperson said that as a national monument building, the former SJI campus is protected under the Preservations of Sites and Monuments (PSM) Board.

The PSM is a division under the National Heritage Board that advises on the preservation of nationally significant monuments and sites in Singapore. It takes its guidance from the Preservation of Monuments Act to preserve and protect national monuments.

Under the Act, there are rules and guidelines on changes that can or cannot be carried out on national monuments such as SAM’s Bras Basah Road building, with major building modifications requiring written permission from PSM.

“No changes to the building can be done until PSM has approved them. The old SJI building has many protected parts due to its heritage, and we are in fact restoring and protecting, not demolishing them,” said the SAM spokesperson in its response.

AREAS AFFECTED BY THE FACELIFT

The SAM building is made up of six areas: the front porch, the main building, the Queen Block, the Anderson Building, the chapel, and finally, the blocks that connect Queen Block and Anderson Building

The parts of the SAM building being demolished are the Queen Block and the connecting blocks.

Only the "connecting blocks" and the Queen Block, built in the 1990s, are being demolished, said the Singapore Art Museum. Illustration: Anam Musta'ein/TODAY

The blocks which connect Queen Block and Anderson Building, located along Waterloo Street, were built in the late 1990s when the museum was being set up.

However, the other areas of the campus such as the Anderson Building and the chapel will not be demolished.

The former Catholic High School building will also remain, although some blocks, which were added to the building after 2000, will be removed.

REACTIONS OF SJI ALUMNI

While some SJI alumni who had studied at the Bras Basah campus who spoke to TODAY were unperturbed by the demolition, others felt that former students could have been better informed of the changes to the building.

Mr Sarangapany Samuthiran, who graduated from SJI in 1967, said that while he was not aware that the old campus was being renovated, said that it “would not matter too much” if Queen Block is demolished.

“I’m not bothered too much as it’s a comparatively modern building,” added the 69-year-old retiree.

Mr Kenneth Goh, a 53-year-old private tutor, said that he realised his old school was undergoing renovation earlier this month and he had hoped that the changes would be “minimal”.

He hopes that the authorities will preserve and conserve as much of the building as possible because of its history and architecture, which he understands was inspired by the European Renaissance period.

The Brothers’ Quarters, which was used by the De La Salle Brothers who ran SJI, were demolished, along with several other areas, during the conservation process from 1992 to 1995.

Queen Block, located along Queen Street, was completed in 1995 and is situated on the site of the former Brothers’ Quarters.

Mr Goh added that while he is not active in the old boys’ alumni network, he assumes that SAM had consulted the alumni before making the decision to remove the block. “If there wasn’t, I’m pretty disappointed, I would say,” said Mr Goh, who graduated from SJI in 1983.

In response to TODAY’s query on whether any stakeholders were consulted before the decision to demolish Queen Block was made, SAM responded that the block is not part of the heritage building and did not exist when the school occupied the building.

“Instead, it was purpose built for SAM when it first opened in 1996,” said the spokesperson.

While Mr Raj said he feels better knowing that only the connecting blocks and the Queen Block are being demolished as these are “modern buildings”, he said that he would have felt less angst if SAM had made clear its intentions from the start.

“I didn’t see any SJI boy consulted before the renovation works. They should have been more upfront on what they intended to do,” said Mr Raj.

Construction work at SAM is expected to be completed in 2021.