Public Bathing in Singapore, 1819–1942: Cultures, Landscapes and Architecture

This chapter traces an initial history of the development of public bathing and swimming in Singapore under British colonialism. The period covered begins with 1819, the year the British first settled in Singapore, and concludes in 1942, the year of the Japanese Occupation. During this period, private ventures attempted to capitalise on people's needs to access water for cleanliness and recreation, and municipal authorities brought in successive measures to regulate and control the uses of urban waters, drawing clearer lines of division between waters for bathing, drinking, and commercial activity. The research explores how colonial conceptions of race, leisure, morality, and athleticism mixed with colonial management and international fashions to develop cultures of public bathing in Singapore. This maps the water landscape of colonial Singapore, and the architectural interventions that defined spaces of hygiene, leisure and sport.