June 08, 2024 1:00 PMWhat is a National Monument? Who gazettes them? How many national monuments are there in Singapore? To date, the Preservation of Sites and Monuments, a division of National Heritage Board, has identified and gazetted 75 buildings, structures and sites of national significance as an integral part of Singapore's built heritage.
Recognising the Thong Chai Medical Society's charitable mission, Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, approved a plot of land for the construction of a new building. The construction, funded by public contributions and donations from individuals like Gan Eng Seng , began in 1891. The new building was completed and opened in 1892, at which point it was renamed Thong Chai Medical Institution .
While a large part of the volunteers were Chinese men, the group also included some Malay and Indian men, and even a few Chinese women. They trained at Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery and initially stayed at Thong Chai Medical Institution, which also served as their administrative centre. The building remained vacant for about two years until it was repurposed in 2005. Currently, it is owned by Forever Living Products Intl, a multi-level marketing company specialising in aloe vera products, which purchased the building from the Government in 2005 for $7 million.The Former Thong Chai Medical Institution, designed in the traditional Cantonese style, stands as one of the few remaining examples of secular Cantonese architecture in Singapore.
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