Please Don't Turn The Majestic Into Foodcourt

Source : The Straits Times, Aug 5, 2007
















THE story of The Majestic is a tale of romance.

After the wife of businessman philanthropist Eu Tong Sen was turned away from an opera house, he built this one for her in 1927.

Now, the Chinatown landmark - once the grandest building there - faces a cold fate.

Cathay Realty put the three-storey conservation building up for sale last week for an expected $43 million and there are concerns about how buyers will redevelop it.

The Majestic is now a three-storey mish-mash of retail shops, yet pundits, architects and property consultants say it is not too late to save it.

Among their suggestions - a nightclub, boutique hotel, or just restoring it to its former glory.

Architectural writer Dinesh Naidu, who is concerned that the building would be turned into a foodcourt, said it would be 'better to convert it back into a theatre which people in the area can appreciate'.

Others see commercial potential in a boutique hotel like Hotel 1929 in Keong Siak Road or the Scarlet Hotel in Erskine Road.

As Colliers International's executive director (investment sales) Ho Eng Joo pointed out: 'Tourists love hotels with a traditional facade.'

But Mr Loh Lik Peng, who owns the boutique Hotel 1929 and the New Majestic Hotel, said it might do better as a nightspot. 'The Majestic building has no windows. For hotels, it is always nice to have rooms with a view.'

Still others feel it should be bought back by the Eu family, which runs traditional Chinese medicine firm Eu Yan Sang. After all, it was their patriarch who built it.

The late patriarch spared no expense on the opera house. He commissioned Swan and Maclaren - the same architectural firm for the original Raffles Hotel and Victoria Memorial Hall - who developed the clean lines that made it one of the first modern buildings here.

Said president of the Singapore Heritage Society Kevin Tan: 'Before that, there were only two types of buildings - shophouses or the traditional buildings with Corinthian columns.'

The Majestic, then known as 'Tin Yin Moh Toi' or the 'Tin Yin Dance Stage', quickly became the place to be seen for the Chinese elite.

'While the British colonial expats went to the Victoria Concert Hall, the rich Chinese towkays hung out at The Majestic,' said architectural history researcher Tan Kar Lin.

It calls to mind Chinatown's more glamorous heyday, an era gone by.

But the grandson of Mr Eu Tong Sen, Richard, told The Sunday Times that it would be unlikely for the family to buy back the building.

The group's chief executive said: 'We sold off the building in the 1950s. I don't think we will buy it back, not even for sentimental reasons.'

But his father, Dr Richard Eu, 84, has a clever compromise.

'The Majestic witnessed the various eras of Chinese entertainment. So it will be good if it becomes a museum showing the Chinese opera and theatre scene here in the 1930s and 1940s.'
















Built for an opera fan

The Cantonese opera house was built in 1927 by philanthropist Eu Tong Sen, a tin mining and rubber magnate, for his wife, an opera fan.

He also formed an opera troupe for her, bought the street on which the theatre sat and named it Eu Tong Sen Street.

Swan and Maclaren, the leading architectural firm at the time, was commissioned to design the building.

Originally known as 'Tin Yin Moh Toi', it could seat 1,194 people. The exterior walls are panelled with shiny and colourful mosaic depicting Cantonese opera scenes and Chinese dragons.

In 1938, Shaw Brothers rented the place, renamed it Queen's Theatre and screened Cantonese films. The theatre was renamed Tai Hwa Opera House during World War II, when the Japanese took control of it.

It was leased to The Majestic Film Company, which lent the theatre its current name, shortly after the war ended in 1945.

In 1956, Cathay Organisation bought the building from the Eu family for $1.1 million.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the theatre was not only popular among the locals but also attracted film stars from Hong Kong.

In 1983, Cathay Organisation became the sole owner after it bought out the partnership. The theatre continued screening Chinese films until 1998, when it was closed.

On Jan 17, 2003, the Majestic Theatre was re-opened but as a shopping mall.

'The Majestic witnessed the various eras of Chinese entertainment. So it will be good if it becomes a museum showing the Chinese opera and theatre scene here in the 1930s and 1940s.' DR RICHARD EU, 84, whose father built The Majestic