{"id":7097,"date":"2013-07-16T13:19:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T05:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/?p=7097"},"modified":"2013-07-16T16:23:47","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T08:23:47","slug":"pioneer-architect-tan-seng-chong-1874-1927","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/2013\/pioneer-architect-tan-seng-chong-1874-1927\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneer Architect :Tan Seng Chong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tan Seng Chong (1874-1927)<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Dr. Lai Chee Kien<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

image courtesy of Ms. Wong Ting Hway<\/p><\/div>\n

Tan Seng Chong (1874-1927), architect and director of Tan Seng Chong & Co., was listed as the first Chinese person to commence his own architectural practice in Singapore (i.e. as sole proprietor). Born on the island when it was part of the Straits Settlements in 1875, he was educated at Raffles Institution before joining the Singapore Municipality as an apprentice in 1897.<\/p>\n

After serving there for 13 years, he commenced private practice in 1910. His office on the top floor of 14, Raffles Quay employed an assistant manager (E.D. Cashin), a chief draughtsman (H. Amin) and an overseer of work (Syed Hamid). The firm also billed itself as surveyors and building agents, and undertook a range of work including the design of the Empire Cinema at Neil Road (1916), works on a Chinese temple (1919), factories, depots and industrial structures.<\/p>\n

He designed many bungalows, houses and stretches of shophouses including seven (Nos. 4 \u2013 16) at Emerald Hill Road. His clients included many notables of the day, like Lim Peng Siang, Tan Kah Kee, Tan Chay Yan and Eu Tong Sen. Tan Seng Chong is buried with wife and their tombs are in the way of the proposed highway.<\/p>\n

Stake numbers : 1945 and 1946 at Hill 2 in Bukit Brown<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The twin tombs of Tan Seng Chong (1945) and wife (1946)\u00a0 in the background, with students documenting the staked graves\u00a0 (photo by Lai Chee Kien)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Rojak Librarian<\/a> has more on the life and times of Tan Seng Chong and his family.<\/p>\n

Dr. Lai Chee Kien\u00a0 is an architectural historian and Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lai Chee Kien at a recent talk he gave on the material culture of Bukit Brown (photo by Bianca Polak)<\/p><\/div>\n

You can view Dr Lai’s talk on the material culture of Bukit Brown here <\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tan Seng Chong (1874-1927) by Dr. Lai Chee Kien Tan Seng Chong (1874-1927), architect and director of Tan Seng Chong & Co., was listed as the first Chinese person to commence his own architectural practice in Singapore (i.e. as sole proprietor). Born on the island when it was part of the Straits Settlements in 1875, he was educated at Raffles Institution before joining the Singapore Municipality as an apprentice in 1897. After serving there for 13 years, he commenced private […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,116,81],"tags":[259,147,260,258],"class_list":["post-7097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-history-2","category-slider","tag-architect","tag-pioneer","tag-staked","tag-tan-seng-chong"],"yoast_head":"\nPioneer Architect :Tan Seng Chong - Bukit Brown: A World Monuments Watch Site in 2014<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/2013\/pioneer-architect-tan-seng-chong-1874-1927\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pioneer Architect :Tan Seng Chong - Bukit Brown: A World Monuments Watch Site in 2014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tan Seng Chong (1874-1927) by Dr. Lai Chee Kien Tan Seng Chong (1874-1927), architect and director of Tan Seng Chong & Co., was listed as the first Chinese person to commence his own architectural practice in Singapore (i.e. as sole proprietor). 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