This complex comprises two adjoining buildings, the former City Hall was completed in 1929 and the former Supreme Court in 1939. Built on the site of the former Hotel de l’Europe, once Singapore’s premier hotel, the building was acclaimed for its fine architecture and workmanship, particularly its decorative columns and sculptures by Italian artist Cavaliere Rodolfo Nolli.
The former City Hall (originally Municipal Building) housed the municipal offices, which oversaw maintenance of public infrastructure and the provision of utilities in Singapore. In 1951, it was renamed “City Hall” when Singapore gained city status. The building witnessed key events, including the Japanese surrender following the end of World War II in 1945, the swearing in of Singapore’s first fully elected government and the installation of the nation’s first Asian Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Malay: Head of State), Yusof bin Ishak, in 1959.
The former Supreme Court served as Singapore’s highest court from 1939 to 2005. During the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945), it was known as Syonan Kotohoin (Japanese: Syonan Supreme Court). After the war, it was one of the venues used for war crime trials. As caseload increased during the post-war years, the Supreme Court, which also took over the City Hall’s premises in the late 1980s, began planning for a new complex adjacent to it in the 1990s and relocated when the building was completed in 2006.
The former City Hall and Supreme Court were gazetted as National Monuments in 1992 and vacated in 2005 with the opening of the new Supreme Court. From 2011, the buildings underwent major restoration and renovation, linking both buildings before reopening as the National Gallery Singapore in 2015.
