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WHO BUILT RAFFLES HOTEL?
Jamie Ee Wen Wei
The Straits Times
July 12, 2009 Sunday
Singapore
Alsagoff descendant wants to set record straight on history of the
iconic hotel
Books and newspaper articles have routinely attributed the building
of the historical Raffles Hotel to the Armenian Sarkies brothers.
But now a descendent of the prominent Alsagoff family has come out
to say that the records are wrong.
Mr Syed Muhammad Ghadaffi Alsagoff, 35, wants to set the record
straight: He says it was his great- great-great grandfather Syed
Ahmed who bought Beach House at No. 1 Beach Road in 1870, before it
was converted to the Raffles Hotel. His great-great grandfather Syed
Mohamed Alsagoff then took over the estate and expanded it in 1889.
'It is true that the Sarkies brothers managed the hotel under a lease
from Syed Mohamed Alsagoff. But the Sarkies brothers did not expand
the construction of what was originally a 10-room beach house into
one of the first modern buildings with electricity in Singapore,'
Mr Syed told The Sunday Times.
'What is not commonly known is that its construction was undertaken
by Syed Mohamed Alsagoff.'
The bachelor, who owns a sportswear shop in Chai Chee, said he
developed an interest in the hotel's history late last year when his
uncle showed him a will drawn by his great-great grandfather in 1902.
In the will, which Mr Syed showed to The Sunday Times, Syed Mohamed
Alsagoff said that he had been paying for the 'additions and
improvements to the Raffles Hotel'.
He had taken over the property from his father, Syed Ahmed, a prominent
and wealthy Arab businessman who owned many properties in Singapore,
including large portions of Geylang Serai.
Syed Mohamed Alsagoff authorised the executors of his will to continue
to advance to the representatives of the Raffles Hotel the amount
needed to complete the additions after his death.
He died in 1906 at the age of 70.
With the vast documentation of the Alsagoffs' legacy here, Mr Syed
is puzzled why some authors have mistaken the Armenian hoteliers as
the owners of the hotel.
He singled out several books - including Perth-based author Ilsa
Sharp's 1981 There Is Only One Raffles, and the Raffles Hotel Book
Of Days published in 2001 by Raffles Hotel - which he said were
inaccurate. There have been at least 10 books written in the last
two decades on the Raffles Hotel, which opened in 1887.
In her book, Ms Sharp wrote that Raffles Hotel was 'built not by the
British, but by Armenian brothers, entrepreneurs named Sarkies...'
She also wrote that the Sarkies 'acquired the Raffles Girl's Boarding
School in Singapore, which they planned to extend and convert into
a first class hotel.'
The Raffles Hotel Book Of Days said the Sarkies 'acquire (d) an Arab
trader's seafront property in 1987'.
Mr Syed said he has sought clarifications from the National Heritage
Board. He also met two representatives from Raffles Hotel two months
ago to show them the will.
'We want to clear up the misunderstanding, not just for the family,
but also for history's sake.'
He added that the family is not trying to take credit from the Sarkies
but that 'due credit should also be given to the Alsagoffs'.
When contacted, a Raffles Hotel spokesman confirmed that the hotel's
representatives have met Mr Syed. She said the hotel is not in the
position to defend books printed by other publishers.
The hotel had commissioned a book titled Raffles Hotel, which was
written by Mrs Gretchen Liu in 1992. It holds this book as the
authority on its history.
Mrs Liu, who was commissioned by the hotel to head its Raffles Heritage
research project from 1989 to 1992, said there is no doubt that the
Alsagoffs were the landowners and landlords of Raffles Hotel. It was
Syed Mohamed Alsagoff's name and signature which appear on all the
hotel's original building plans. This was mentioned in her book. She
also wrote that it was Syed Mohamed who leased Beach House to the
Sarkies.
Before coming to Singapore, the Sarkies brothers were already running
two successful hotels in Penang. They ventured to Singapore when their
landlord in Penang demanded an unreasonably large rent. The success
of Raffles Hotel has been attributed to their shrewd management of
the business.
In 1926, they secured a 70-year lease of tenure from the Alsagoffs
but this was in effect for only six years as the Sarkies brothers went
bankrupt when the Great Depression started in the early 1930s. There
are no descendents of the Sarkies here now, Mrs Liu said.
While the Sarkies did not buy the property, Mrs Liu told The Sunday
Times that she believes the Sarkies would have wanted to but could not
as Syed Ahmed had stated in his will that none of his properties could
be sold until 20 years after the death of his last surviving child.
This date did not arrive until 1961. His youngest daughter, Sherriffa
Bahia Alsagoff, died in 1941.
In 1963, the property was sold by the Alsagoffs to Malayan Banking
for $1.415 million.
Mrs Liu said the Alsagoffs definitely had a role to play in the hotel's
history but she would describe it as a 'passive' one. She gave an
analogy: 'If you started a coffee business in a building, and it
became successful, do you get the credit or the building's developer?'
Ms Sharp, who wrote the book on Raffles Hotel in 1981, said in an
e-mail reply to The Sunday Times that she has always been aware that
the Alsagoff family were both landowners and landlords of large areas
around Beach Road, including the Raffles Hotel and its site. They
would likely have been involved in the building of the hotel but she
believes the Sarkies were equally, if not more, involved. Ms Sharp
is currently working on another book project in Singapore.
As for the discrepancies that Mr Syed raised, both Ms Sharp and Mrs
Liu felt it boiled down to a debate of semantics and opinion.
Ms Sharp said: 'It all depends on how you define the word 'build'
as in 'built the Raffles' - do we mean conceived, designed, financed,
constructed, developed, managed, operated or what? Through all these
different aspects of the process, the Alsagoffs and the Sarkies would
each have made different contributions at different times.'
Mrs Liu agreed: 'I definitely think the Alsagoffs should be
acknowledged but this is a fine point and whether someone deserves
recognition is a matter of opinion.'
Mr Syed said he is not expecting a correction for the books that
have been published but hopes that future writings on the hotel will
be accurate.
'You can't take all the current books off the shelf but at least from
now on, people will get it right.'
[email protected]
WHERE S'PORE SLING WAS BORN
1887: The hotel was opened on Dec 1 and called Raffles Hotel. It was
then a 10-room colonial building at the junction of Beach Road and
Bras Basah Road. The property was owned by Syed Mohamed Alsagoff but
the hotel was run by the Sarkies brothers.
1890: A pair of two-storey wings were added.
1894: The Palm Court wing was opened.
1899: The three-storey Main Building was opened. It became one of
the first buildings in Singapore to be fitted with electricity.
1904: The Bras Basah wing, with 112 suites and a row of shops on the
ground floor, was opened. Its completion helped Raffles to secure
its status as the largest hotel in the Straits Settlements.
1915: The iconic drink, the Singapore Sling, was invented at the
historic Long Bar.
1931: The Sarkies brothers went bankrupt.
1933: The hotel was spared financial troubles and was incorporated
as Raffles Hotel Limited.
1961: The Alsagoff property was put up for auction.
1963: Malayan Banking bought the property for $1.415
million. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) ran the hotel's
business.
1972: The property was sold to the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS).
1980: A restoration plan supported by DBS and OCBC was shelved.
1987: The Government declared the hotel a national monument.
1988: The two banks forged a new partnership under the corporation
of Raffles Hotel (1886) Pte Ltd to undertake the redevelopment of
the hotel.
1989: The hotel went through a $160 million facelift to restore it
to its colonial splendour. It reopened in 1991.
1995: Raffles Holdings (1995) Pte Ltd (RH95) was formed in August as
the vehicle for the proposed listing of DBS Land's hotel and resort
business.
2005: The hotel, together with the rest of Raffles Holdings' chain of
hotels, was sold to US-based investment fund Colony Capital for $1.72
billion. Colony later merged that portfolio with Fairmont Hotels &
Resorts' assets to create Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI).
2008: A consortium led by former Credit Suisse banker Mark Pawle
tried to buy Raffles Hotel but the deal fell through.
2009: In April, FRHI secured approval from the Singapore authorities
to expand the hotel. When completed, it will have 78 new rooms.
Jamie Ee Wen Wei
The Straits Times
July 12, 2009 Sunday
Singapore
Alsagoff descendant wants to set record straight on history of the
iconic hotel
Books and newspaper articles have routinely attributed the building
of the historical Raffles Hotel to the Armenian Sarkies brothers.
But now a descendent of the prominent Alsagoff family has come out
to say that the records are wrong.
Mr Syed Muhammad Ghadaffi Alsagoff, 35, wants to set the record
straight: He says it was his great- great-great grandfather Syed
Ahmed who bought Beach House at No. 1 Beach Road in 1870, before it
was converted to the Raffles Hotel. His great-great grandfather Syed
Mohamed Alsagoff then took over the estate and expanded it in 1889.
'It is true that the Sarkies brothers managed the hotel under a lease
from Syed Mohamed Alsagoff. But the Sarkies brothers did not expand
the construction of what was originally a 10-room beach house into
one of the first modern buildings with electricity in Singapore,'
Mr Syed told The Sunday Times.
'What is not commonly known is that its construction was undertaken
by Syed Mohamed Alsagoff.'
The bachelor, who owns a sportswear shop in Chai Chee, said he
developed an interest in the hotel's history late last year when his
uncle showed him a will drawn by his great-great grandfather in 1902.
In the will, which Mr Syed showed to The Sunday Times, Syed Mohamed
Alsagoff said that he had been paying for the 'additions and
improvements to the Raffles Hotel'.
He had taken over the property from his father, Syed Ahmed, a prominent
and wealthy Arab businessman who owned many properties in Singapore,
including large portions of Geylang Serai.
Syed Mohamed Alsagoff authorised the executors of his will to continue
to advance to the representatives of the Raffles Hotel the amount
needed to complete the additions after his death.
He died in 1906 at the age of 70.
With the vast documentation of the Alsagoffs' legacy here, Mr Syed
is puzzled why some authors have mistaken the Armenian hoteliers as
the owners of the hotel.
He singled out several books - including Perth-based author Ilsa
Sharp's 1981 There Is Only One Raffles, and the Raffles Hotel Book
Of Days published in 2001 by Raffles Hotel - which he said were
inaccurate. There have been at least 10 books written in the last
two decades on the Raffles Hotel, which opened in 1887.
In her book, Ms Sharp wrote that Raffles Hotel was 'built not by the
British, but by Armenian brothers, entrepreneurs named Sarkies...'
She also wrote that the Sarkies 'acquired the Raffles Girl's Boarding
School in Singapore, which they planned to extend and convert into
a first class hotel.'
The Raffles Hotel Book Of Days said the Sarkies 'acquire (d) an Arab
trader's seafront property in 1987'.
Mr Syed said he has sought clarifications from the National Heritage
Board. He also met two representatives from Raffles Hotel two months
ago to show them the will.
'We want to clear up the misunderstanding, not just for the family,
but also for history's sake.'
He added that the family is not trying to take credit from the Sarkies
but that 'due credit should also be given to the Alsagoffs'.
When contacted, a Raffles Hotel spokesman confirmed that the hotel's
representatives have met Mr Syed. She said the hotel is not in the
position to defend books printed by other publishers.
The hotel had commissioned a book titled Raffles Hotel, which was
written by Mrs Gretchen Liu in 1992. It holds this book as the
authority on its history.
Mrs Liu, who was commissioned by the hotel to head its Raffles Heritage
research project from 1989 to 1992, said there is no doubt that the
Alsagoffs were the landowners and landlords of Raffles Hotel. It was
Syed Mohamed Alsagoff's name and signature which appear on all the
hotel's original building plans. This was mentioned in her book. She
also wrote that it was Syed Mohamed who leased Beach House to the
Sarkies.
Before coming to Singapore, the Sarkies brothers were already running
two successful hotels in Penang. They ventured to Singapore when their
landlord in Penang demanded an unreasonably large rent. The success
of Raffles Hotel has been attributed to their shrewd management of
the business.
In 1926, they secured a 70-year lease of tenure from the Alsagoffs
but this was in effect for only six years as the Sarkies brothers went
bankrupt when the Great Depression started in the early 1930s. There
are no descendents of the Sarkies here now, Mrs Liu said.
While the Sarkies did not buy the property, Mrs Liu told The Sunday
Times that she believes the Sarkies would have wanted to but could not
as Syed Ahmed had stated in his will that none of his properties could
be sold until 20 years after the death of his last surviving child.
This date did not arrive until 1961. His youngest daughter, Sherriffa
Bahia Alsagoff, died in 1941.
In 1963, the property was sold by the Alsagoffs to Malayan Banking
for $1.415 million.
Mrs Liu said the Alsagoffs definitely had a role to play in the hotel's
history but she would describe it as a 'passive' one. She gave an
analogy: 'If you started a coffee business in a building, and it
became successful, do you get the credit or the building's developer?'
Ms Sharp, who wrote the book on Raffles Hotel in 1981, said in an
e-mail reply to The Sunday Times that she has always been aware that
the Alsagoff family were both landowners and landlords of large areas
around Beach Road, including the Raffles Hotel and its site. They
would likely have been involved in the building of the hotel but she
believes the Sarkies were equally, if not more, involved. Ms Sharp
is currently working on another book project in Singapore.
As for the discrepancies that Mr Syed raised, both Ms Sharp and Mrs
Liu felt it boiled down to a debate of semantics and opinion.
Ms Sharp said: 'It all depends on how you define the word 'build'
as in 'built the Raffles' - do we mean conceived, designed, financed,
constructed, developed, managed, operated or what? Through all these
different aspects of the process, the Alsagoffs and the Sarkies would
each have made different contributions at different times.'
Mrs Liu agreed: 'I definitely think the Alsagoffs should be
acknowledged but this is a fine point and whether someone deserves
recognition is a matter of opinion.'
Mr Syed said he is not expecting a correction for the books that
have been published but hopes that future writings on the hotel will
be accurate.
'You can't take all the current books off the shelf but at least from
now on, people will get it right.'
[email protected]
WHERE S'PORE SLING WAS BORN
1887: The hotel was opened on Dec 1 and called Raffles Hotel. It was
then a 10-room colonial building at the junction of Beach Road and
Bras Basah Road. The property was owned by Syed Mohamed Alsagoff but
the hotel was run by the Sarkies brothers.
1890: A pair of two-storey wings were added.
1894: The Palm Court wing was opened.
1899: The three-storey Main Building was opened. It became one of
the first buildings in Singapore to be fitted with electricity.
1904: The Bras Basah wing, with 112 suites and a row of shops on the
ground floor, was opened. Its completion helped Raffles to secure
its status as the largest hotel in the Straits Settlements.
1915: The iconic drink, the Singapore Sling, was invented at the
historic Long Bar.
1931: The Sarkies brothers went bankrupt.
1933: The hotel was spared financial troubles and was incorporated
as Raffles Hotel Limited.
1961: The Alsagoff property was put up for auction.
1963: Malayan Banking bought the property for $1.415
million. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) ran the hotel's
business.
1972: The property was sold to the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS).
1980: A restoration plan supported by DBS and OCBC was shelved.
1987: The Government declared the hotel a national monument.
1988: The two banks forged a new partnership under the corporation
of Raffles Hotel (1886) Pte Ltd to undertake the redevelopment of
the hotel.
1989: The hotel went through a $160 million facelift to restore it
to its colonial splendour. It reopened in 1991.
1995: Raffles Holdings (1995) Pte Ltd (RH95) was formed in August as
the vehicle for the proposed listing of DBS Land's hotel and resort
business.
2005: The hotel, together with the rest of Raffles Holdings' chain of
hotels, was sold to US-based investment fund Colony Capital for $1.72
billion. Colony later merged that portfolio with Fairmont Hotels &
Resorts' assets to create Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI).
2008: A consortium led by former Credit Suisse banker Mark Pawle
tried to buy Raffles Hotel but the deal fell through.
2009: In April, FRHI secured approval from the Singapore authorities
to expand the hotel. When completed, it will have 78 new rooms.