Singapore Chinatown Historical Building

Jamae (Chulia) Mosque

Jamae Mosque was built by the Chulia community who came from the Coromandal Coast of southern India. It is also known as Masjid Chulia and Masjid Kling. Although it has been in existence since 1827, its present form came about slightly later, sometime between 1830 and 1835. It was wakaf mosque, which means that it was built on donated land that was placed in trust for the Muslim community in perpetuity. The mosque is built to face Mecca, and as such is out of alignment with the street grid. The architecture is a blend of the east and the west. Wile the front gate is typically South Indian, the foyer, main prayer hall, ancillary prayer hall and shrine feature neoclassical elements – inspired by the style of Singapore’s most esteemed colonial architect, George Drumgoole Coleman. The architect also designed some of Singapore’s most well-known buildings, such as Armenian Church and the old Parliament House with its Annex Building.

Majestic Theatre

“Tin Yin Moh Toi” or Tin Yin Dance Stage attracted the most glamorous opera stars from China. With their beautiful painted faces and exquisite costumes, they performed to capacity audiences. Standing ovations and catcalls filled the theatre every night. Graceful hostesses sashayed amongst the patrons, serving wine and tea with teasing smiles.

Tin Yin was built on a whim by tycoon Eu Tong Seng for his wife. After she was refused entry into another opera house, he offered it as consolation. Not content with building merely one theatre, Eu bought all the properties on the entire street, popularly known then as Theatre Street.

The 1930s saw the theatre’s heyday. Major opera stars flocked to perform in Tin Yin to raise money for China’s war effort against the Japanese. In 1938, opera faced competition with the advent of “talking” movies. Cinema magnate Shaw Brothers rented Tin Yin, renamed it Queen’s Theatre and began screening Cantonese movies. During the Japanese Occupation (1942-45), Queen’s Theatre was renamed Dahe Theatre. Japanese movies screened till the end of the war were translated into Cantonese. Often, the ‘translator’ did not even know Japanese and would read from a Romanized script. After the war, Dahua Film Company took over the cinema and renamed it Majestic Theatre.