Raffles Singapore
Colonial-era landmark and home of the Singapore Sling. Raffles Hotel opened in Singapore in 1887. The Sarkies brothers, the Long Bar and the Singapore Sling, and the restoration that reopened it in 2019.
Raffles Hotel and its gardens: Edogang1, CC0
Ten rooms by the sea
Raffles Hotel was founded by the Sarkies brothers, Armenian hoteliers who also ran hotels in Penang and later Yangon. They leased a beachfront bungalow and opened a ten-room hotel there on 1 December 1887.
The hotel grew quickly. Two wings with 22 suites each were finished in 1890, and in 1899 a grand new main building designed by Regent Alfred John Bidwell opened. It had electric lights and ceiling fans, making Raffles the first hotel in the region with electric lighting.
The hotel's architecture mixes classical columns, wide verandas and high ceilings designed for the tropical climate, with courtyards and gardens that keep the buildings shaded. The white main building, with its long front lawn and porte cochère, is one of the most photographed facades in Singapore.
The Long Bar and the Sling
The hotel's most famous creation is the Singapore Sling, a pink gin-based long drink. It is usually credited to Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at the Long Bar, around 1915, although drinks historians debate exactly when and where it first appeared.
The Long Bar is also known for a relaxed custom: guests snack on peanuts in the shell and brush the shells onto the floor, which is unusual in a hotel this formal.
Famous writers
Raffles has long attracted writers. W. Somerset Maugham was a regular at the Long Bar, and Rudyard Kipling is often quoted as praising the hotel's food. Suites are named after notable guests.
In 1987, a century after the hotel opened, Singapore declared Raffles a national monument. The same year, a researcher found the hotel's long-lost original drawings in an archive, which helped later restorations.
Afternoon tea in the Grand Lobby and the shaded Palm Court gardens are among the hotel's best-known traditions. The Raffles Hotel Arcade has shops and restaurants that are open to non-residents, so visitors can see part of the hotel without staying.
Two great restorations
In 1989 the hotel closed for a two-year renovation that restored it to the style of its 1915 heyday and turned every room into a suite. It reopened on 16 September 1991.
A second major restoration began in 2017. The hotel closed in December 2017, the rooms were refurbished and soundproofed, and the number of suites grew from 103 to 115. Raffles reopened on 1 August 2019.
