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Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator

Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator

George Drumgoole Coleman

Photo: Chainwit. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Singapore
Client / Owner
First twelve Armenian families of Singapore
Year
Completed 1836
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual

The Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator stands at 60 Hill Street in Singapore, at the foot of Fort Canning. The first twelve Armenian families to settle in Singapore commissioned it. The community asked for land in 1833, and the government granted it in 1834. The foundation stone was laid on January 1, 1835, and the church was consecrated on Easter Sunday in 1836. It cost about 5,058 Spanish dollars, with over half donated by the Armenian community.

George Drumgoole Coleman, later Singapore's first Superintendent of Public Works, designed it. The style is British neoclassical with some eclectic influences. The central plan follows Etchmiadzin Cathedral, with a circular interior within a square-cross plan. It has Tuscan Doric porticos, verandahs and louvred timber windows suited to the tropics.

It was the first building in Singapore with electricity, in 1909, and became a national monument in 1973.

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