History of Sculpture Square

Since it was first built in 1870, Sculpture Square has gone through several incarnations.  Conceived as a Christian Institute by Charles Phillips, the Middle Road Church - as it was initially called - was used by young men for recreational activity and daily worship.  It's job scope soon broadened when Phillips opened its premises to the Methodists, where under the indomitable Sophia Blackmore - the first Methodist female missionary - and Reverend William G. Shellbar, the Methodist Girls' School began its life, with just nine little Indian girls. 

During the 1890s, the church became known as the Malay Church due to the presence of a large Baba community of believers who frequented the church.  This was formally inaugurated on Thursday 25th January 1894 and became the first Baba Malay Methodist church in Singapore.  During this time, the church shared its premises with the Foochow Chinese Mission, headed by a certain Dr. Leuring from Germany.  However, most of the evangelistic work carried out was mainly among the Babas.

In 1899, the building was lengthened by the addition of a classroom for a Primary Sunday School class.  The old wooden boards were replaced with cement flooring, the walls kalsomined, new seats installed and the south end of the building was rebuilt in bricks from timber.  The church remained here until it moved to Cuff Road in 1927 where it was commonly known as the Straits Chinese Methodist Church.  This was officially renamed the Kampong Kapor Church in 1962. 

In the church’s absence, the building was converted into a Chinese restaurant called “May Blossom Restaurant” during the Japanese occupation.  After the war ended, the restaurant moved out, and the site was immediately converted into a motor workshop and parking area.  Forgotten and gradually deteriorating into oblivion, the church was rediscovered in 1995 by Sun Yu-li, architect-turned-full-time sculptor, who saw the artistic potential of the space. 

Especially concerned about Singapore’s lack of appropriate spaces to exhibit three-dimensional work and installations, he saw in the worn buildings a potential solution to the problem.   He brought his idealistic dream of turning Singapore’s first Baba church into the city’s first-ever arts venue entirely dedicated to displaying and promoting three-dimensional art, to his friend and deputy chairman of Wing Tai Holdings Limited, Edmund Chen.  Together, they sought to turn the dream into reality, by persuading both public and private sectors to invest into the project.

The seed money to start the construction was initially raised by Mr Cheng through Wing Tai’s considerable infrastructure and network of contacts. One such contact was Daniel Teo, the President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore, who contributed $200,000 from the Redas Building Art fund started by Mr Cheng in the early 90s. Supportive consultants who contributed their services for free or at cost, as well as a high-profile board of directors also helped greatly in shaping the project. They were people from corporate world with a commitments to the arts – like Richard C Helfer, chairman and CEO of Raffles International ltd and Kwee Liong Keng, managing director pf Pontiac Land Pte Ltd.

The church and the adjoining site was slated for conversion into an art-housing site and in May 1999, Sculpture Square was officially unveiled to the public in an ambitious and daring inaugural exhibition titled appropriately, “Provocative Things, a Three-Dimensional Experience in Singapore” on 22 October 1999.

ARCHTECTURAL RELATED INFORMATION

•The 2,034 sq feet exhibition hall, now called the chapel galley has a 9m high pillar-free ceiling, which is ideal for large sculptures and 3-dimensional works. (Space has been an increasingly important factor in determining the nature/medium of the artwork. C.F. Ravinder’s huge sculpture of a woman’s head)

•The chapel gallery has been marked for conservation as it was the first Baba church in Singapore. The church was first constructed in 1870 by Mr Charles Philips, an English Presbyterian, for use as a Christian Institute. The external façade such as the circular vents and arc windows have been preserved.

•According to the URA, the chapel gallery is one of the few Gothic style buildings still existing in Singapore.

•The building next to the church, which now houses Sculpture Square’s office, library and a smaller gallery, was once a budget hotel.

•The lower gallery is sectioned off into rooms, these three sided rooms open up into a common passageway down the centre. Sunlight can be shut out, allowing the manipulation of light. Space here is also fuss-free.

•The artistic re-use of the old buildings helps to vitalize and add life to that area culturally.