The Apollo Hotel was the largest of three hotels, the others being King’s Hotel and Hotel Miramar, that were established along Havelock Road in the early 1970s as part of the government’s urban renewal scheme for the area. Opened in 1971, the hotel complex comprised of a curved 19-storey tower block connected to a three-storey circular block that housed a nightclub and restaurant. In 1972, Isetan Singapore, the first Japanese department store in Singapore, started operating from the four floors of the hotel. Isetan moved its flagship store from the Apollo Hotel to Shaw House in 1993 in a bid to increase its presence along the Orchard Road shopping and tourist belt. The hotel was renamed the Novotel Apollo in 1999 following upgrading works and the transfer of the hotel’s management to the French-based Accor Group. Following another transfer of management in 2004, this time to Furama Hotels International Management (FHI), the hotel is now known as the Furama Riverfront Singapore.
