some historic buildings along coleman street

on most sundays, i park my car at the registry of marriage car-park at canning rise. last sunday, after having parked the car, i decided to explore the area in the vicinity of the car-park. parking is free on sundays at this particular car-park.

first, from the car-park, i took the stairs to get to fort canning park. i particularly wanted to have a look at the 'flutes by the fort' because my nephew had taken his girlfriend there on valentine's day. the restaurant was not open in the morning. from the restaurant i had a view of the back of three or four buildings along coleman street.




the building nearest to the car-park is the national archives of singapore. i remember that it used to be one of the anglo-chinese schools. i think in the 70s, it was the anglo chinese junior school. i had a friend whose son attended the school, even though they were living in bedok. reason: the father was an old boy of the school.

questions: what is the present location of anglo chinese junior school?

answer: winstedt road, the former premises of monk's hill secondary school

how many anglo chinese schools are there in s'pore altogether?

six: acs junior, acs primary, acs secondary, acs independent, acjc & acs international

the building next to it, the singapore philatelic museum, used to be part of the same school and later, in 1970, it became the methodist book room. i remember browsing in the book room in the early 80s.





the other building, which is next to the central fire station, is the freemason hall also known as the masonic hall. it seems quite an exclusive place, as i do not see many people going in and out of that place.

membership is by invitation only and often entails a committee interviewing the prospective member, mostly to ascertain if he believes in a supreme being. the potential member's entry then depends on a secret vote done through the use of black and white balls. if the candidate is "black-balled" twice, he is disqualified from joining. only three or four new members are said to be initiated each year. in singapore, although there is no minimum income criterion to join, freemasonry is definitely a "professional outfit".