Singapore Site Seeing Tour - St Andrew's Cathedral

Who can ever miss the cathedral in the City Hall? It is right smack in the middle of the city right beside the MRT.Can you imagine this very cathedral you see today is the third building? The first church was design by George Drumgoole Coleman and the second was designed by John Turnbull Thomson. This is the second time I am mentioning John Turnbull Thomson. Remembering from my previous post, he was the architect of Cavenagh Bridge in Singapore River.

I did a little research on him. John Turnbull Thomson was appointed Governor Surveyor of Singapore in 1841 and became the Superintendent of Road and Public works in 1844. His legacy in Singapore includes:

1) Report on Singapore's water supply which led to the approval of Thomson Reservoir, now MacRitchie Reservoir.
2) Carried out survey on Straits of Singapore and Keppel harbor.
3) Carried out repairs and lowering of Coleman Bridge.
4) Architect to the following buildings:
- Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca,
- Hajjah Fatimah Mosque
- the spire for the Saint Andrew's Cathedral
- Dalhousie Obelisk
- European Seaman's Hospital,- the first bridge across the Kallang River, known as Thomson
- Tan Tock Seng Hospital at Serangoon Road.

And of course if you realized, much of our Singapore Roads are named after Thomson.

Back to St Andrew's Cathedral, the third design was done by Colonel Ronald MacPherson and there it is standing in the middle of city hall. It was gazetted as a national monument in 6 July 1973.

Take a look at the nave and the interior of the cathedral.


There was also a statue erected for the designer of the current cathedral. Looks like a tombstone though.