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Clifford Pier

Clifford Pier, an embarkation and disembarkation pier, on Collyer Quay, is located in the Downtown Core of the Central Region. It was named after Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, Governor of the Straits Settlements (1927 - 1929), and was officially opened by Governor Sir Cecil Clementi K.C.M.G. on 3 June 1933. 

Measuring 240 ft long by 110 ft wide, it was built to replace Johnston's Pier (1854-1933) which was situated opposite Fullerton Square. Clifford Pier is sited opposite Change Alley, slightly further along Collyer Quay from where Johnston's Pier stood. A red lamp used to hang at the end of Johnston's Pier, warning ships as it entered the harbour. Thus Johnston's pier was popularly known as lampu merah (Malay) for red lamp.  Names die hard, so, ang teng (Hokkien) and lampu merah also became the name for Clifford Pier. Frank Dorrington Ward, Chief Architect of the Public Works Department (PWD) and his assistants produced a neat, simple but solid design with an interesting roof structure including concrete arched trusses in a pleasing riband form. It was constructed by Woh Hup contractors, with huge steel piles hammered into the seabed for the Pier's foundation and its structure and unique architecture.

The opening ceremony on 3 June 1933 was boycotted by all merchants because they wanted the name of the building to bear the name of the older, nearby Johnston's Pier. Clifford Pier has been a busy landing and departure point since its opening. During the pre-airtravel era and after, it served passengers commuting between ships anchored out at sea and the Singapore mainland. For a time, bumboats ferried people to and from the various off-shore islands from this point. In the final days prior to the Japanese invasion on 15 February 1942, the Pier was the scene of much panic and turmoil with Japanese planes strafing the evacuees, and the Japanese navy waiting to intercept ships leaving Singapore in the outer sealanes with nearly all these refugees either captured or killed.

The area surrounding the entrance of the Pier had a carpark to accommodate visitors, until the end of the 1960s. At night, the carpark was transformed into a hawker centre and was popular with musicians and night birds who stayed up late. With developments in the area in 1970, the carpark disappeared and the connecting Change Alley Plaza was erected complete with revolving tower. A glass-framed bridge linked the Pier to Clifford Centre, and housed the previous vendors at Change Alley. The revolving tower for a while had "The Red Lantern Restaurant". As if strangely living up to its name, there was a proliferation of prostitutes during this time who made the area a 'red-light' district until they were driven away. 

In 2004, plans were announced to replace Clifford Pier with a new two-storey pier at Marina South. This is part of redevelopment plans to build the Marina Bay area into an upmarket residential and commercial centre. The Marina Bay, upon which Clifford Pier now looks out to, will be dammed up by 2006 to create a reservoir.  The last day of operation for Clifford Pier was slated to be 31 March 2006.  After 73 years in opearation, Clifford Pier would be conserved and redeveloped as part of the upcoming Downtown @ Marina.


Variant Names
Chinese name: In Hokkien,ang teng means red light.
Malay name: Lampu merah means red light.



Author
Vernon Cornelius



References 
Turnbull, C. M. (1989). History of Singapore: 1819-1988 (p. 182). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TUR)

Tyers, R. K. (1993). Ray Tyers' Singapore: Then and now (p. 100). Singapore: Landmark Books.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TYE) 

Goh, C. L. (January 26, 2004).  Clifford Pier moving to Marina South. The Straits Times.

Loo, D. (2005, June 24). Clifford Pier slated to be lifestyle hub. The Straits Times. 

ClubSNAP.com. (2002-2006). Last day of Clifford Pier. Retrieved March 17, 2005, from forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=179562

Further Readings
Chua, S. (February 1, 2004).  Pier pressure. The Straits Times. 

The information in this article is valid as at 2006 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Architecture and Landscape>>Streets and Places
Piers--Singapore
Historic preservation--Singapore
Arts>>Architecture>>Public and commercial buildings
History>>Asia>>Southeast Asia>>Singapore

Librarian Recommendations
>> Change Alley
>> Johnston's Pier


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