Present Building Consecrated
The foundation stone for the cathedral’s present building was laid in 1856. The first service was held on 1st October 1861 and consecrated in 1862 and designed by Colonel Ronald MacPherson in the neo-Gothic architectural style. The building accommodated around 300 seated worshippers. Its grand façade would have been particularly prominent from the sea then. For the Christian community in Singapore, it was a sign of unity and acted as a powerful stimulus for new missionary work in the region.
John F. A. McNair was appointed executive engineer and superintendent of convicts in 1857. Fluent in Hindi, McNair had only one European assistant while the rest of his crew were convict labourers from India. Babajee or Bawajee Rajaram from Bombay headed the team of draughtsmen. Another convict Appasamy as the foreman of the blacksmith’s shop did the ironwork. Boy convicts were trained to climb up to place imported slates on the new steeple.
Though it cannot be compared to the grand architectural projects in England around the same time, it is a unique building erected with limited funds. The newspapers then reported that the total cost of church building came to 47,916 Indian Rupees with the use of Indian convict labour. The use of convict labour for the building of a Cathedral is often a subject of comment. Many buildings in Singapore at that time were built in this way.
The Cathedral Today
Unlike the earlier building, the present structure has lasted for more than 150 years, standing as a quiet witness to the generations of Christians that have come through its doors. It is an oasis in the heart of a bustling city-state. The building consists of a nave with north and south aisles. The north and south transepts, originally built as porches for carriages, have in more recent years (North Transept -1952, South Transept – 1983) been extended to provide halls, meeting rooms and offices.
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