Genealogy of the Singaporean black‐and‐white house

Abstract

The distinctive black‐and‐white houses from Singapore's colonial era that survive in enclaves as fine dwellings for the present‐day elite have been recognized and documented as a type. In this paper we tell the story of their cultural formation, which is one of remarkable hybridity. Various influences were brought to bear and resolved into the black‐and‐white house‐type, which was not invented ‘all at once’ in Singapore, but developed over the course of more than two centuries. We begin the story in India, when British settlers learnt from local Bengali practices to make serviceable dwellings for a climate that they found difficult. The overhanging roofs that shaded walls and the tall internal volumes were formalized with reference to European expectations of geometry and finish, and the bungalow was born. In British Malaya the bungalow was further hybridized with the house on stilts that was well known to the indigenous tradition. This produced the spatial configuration that is to be found also in the Singapore houses, with their extensive verandas on an upper floor level. Their distinctive colouring comes from a different tradition: the black‐and‐white Tudoresque style that was very popular in Britain and sometimes called ‘Old English’. This was used by the British colonizers so that they could feel more at home in surroundings that were in a far‐off foreign cultural environment.