Masonic Hall

Before its permanent home materialized on Coleman Street, Singapore’s Freemasons ping-ponged across the colony for 34 years: Armenian Street, High Street, North Bridge Road, the Esplanade, Beach Road, and Hill Street. The foundation stone of the Masonic Hall was laid on 14 April 1879, and the building was consecrated on 27 December that year. Accounts differ on its designer, crediting either Thomas A. Cargill or D. M. Craik, but agree that the structure began as a single floor, with a second storey added in the late 1880s. The man who laid the foundation stone, William Henry Macleod Read, had arrived in Singapore at 22 to take his father’s place as partner at A. L. Johnston & Company, which he headed until his retirement in 1887. Read founded the Singapore Sporting Club in 1842, which later became the Singapore Turf Club, and won its first Singapore Cup himself, pocketing $150. Today, a bronze bust of Read can be found on the staircase leading to the second floor.