Kampong Bengkulu’s Jewish Mahalla and Japan Town

This is Part 9 of a 10-part series of excerpts from an NHB HRG Research Project (Ref. 029, 2019-2021) led by Dr Imran bin Tajudeen.

Two small minority groups in Singapore’s social landscape stand out in the history of the Kampung Bengkulu/Middle Road neighbourhood. They are the Jewish and the Japanese. The neighbourhood was considered central to both communities, respectively as the Jewish Mahalla and as Japan Town. A notice in the Japanese Occupation-era Syonan Shimbun (17 March 1942) called for unregistered Jews and Eurasians to report to Toyo Hotel along Queen Street (H4 in Figure 1), behind St Joseph’s Church. This affirms the coexistence of the two communities in the area.

The Jewish community

The history of the Kampung Bengkulu / Middle Road area as the site of was the Jewish Mahalla of Singapore is relatively well-known, even if the toponym has not entered more common usage in Singapore. The oldest surviving Synagogue in all of southeast Asia is found precisely along Waterloo Street in the heart of Kampong Bencoolen. Two buildings in the Kampung Bengkulu area, Ellison (1924) and David Elias (1928), are also connected to Jewish owners.

The historical concentration of Singapore’s Jewish community in this neighbourhood is further corroborated by other pieces of information. Examples from this research are as follows:

Hebrew School along Chandu Court (NAS 8796/1907, 258/1916) – this is discussed further below
Victoria Street addresses:
1. The very large compound house no. 375, situated along the prominent thoroughfare Victoria Street was owned by A. Frankel, with advertisements for a furniture business and building drawings connected to the surname in 1898, 1902, 1907 and 1913, and 1924. (Mid-day Herald 1898, NAS 4998/1902, NAS 9043/1907, NAS 963/1913, ST 1924)
1. Adolf Sternberg’s upholstery and furniture shop at 51 Victoria Street for (SFPMA 1896 to 1898)
Bencoolen Street addresses:
1. S. Lelah’s shophouse at 5 Bencoolen Street (MT 1928)
1. Jacob Sion Lelah at 25 Bencoolen Street (ST 1947)
1. Menasseh M. Jacob at 30 Bencoolen Street (Syonan Shimbun 1943)
1. M. A. Meyer’s shophouses at 41-51 Bencoolen Street (SFPMA 1913)
1. J. Abraham’s shophouses at 102-1, 102-7 and 103-107 Bencoolen Stret for (ST 1902)
1. Mrs Elias Solomon Hanin (NAS 8489/1906) and S. E. Solomon (MT 1915) at 233 Bencoolen Street
1. Mrs. S. Bekhore and Rachel Manasseh at 236 Bencoolen Street (NAS 571/1924)
1. Mrs. Seemah Bekhore at 236 and 236-3 Bencoolen Street (SFPMA 1924)
Waterloo Street and Queen Street addresses:
1. E. M. Mizrah’s property at 79 Waterloo Street (ST 1900)
1. A. Frankel’s shophouse as pineapple factory at 79 and 80 Waterloo Street (ST 1902)
1. Shophouses at 84-87 Queen Street for I. R. Belilios (NAS 9/1891, 5076/1902)
1. Shophouses at 104 Queen Street for I. R. Belilios (NAS 41/1890)

The Japanese community

The building of the Japanese Hospital known as Doh Jin Hospital (1940) still stands, as does the Japanese Elementary School (1920), which is used for the Stamford Arts Centre today. However, the two large Compound Houses that were formerly the homes for the Japanese Commercial Museum (c. 1918) at Bras Basah Road, and the Singapore Japanese Club (1926) at Selegie Road, are no longer standing.

Residences and businesses
1. Compound house at 21 Bencoolen Street for Matsutada Gotoh (ST 1922)
1. Compound house at 27 Bencoolen Street for M. Sawada & Co. (MT 1933)
1. 35 Queen Street for Mr Kiyota (NAS 73/1911)
1. Compound house at 377 Victoria Street for Yoshia Shokai (NAS 834/1918)
Businesses
1. Shophouses as Hazama-Gumi shop at 52-54 Bencoolen Street (NAS 28/1894, ST 1915, Syonan Shimbun 1944)
1. Compound house as soap factory at 113 Bencoolen Street for M. Naka (NAS 2455/1915)
1. Compound house as a fortune telling house at 241 Bencoolen Street for Naokatsu Shibata (ST 1917)
1. Compound house as Yurindo Printing Press at 76 and 78 Waterloo Street (Sunday Tribune 1933)
1. Tyre shop at 80 Waterloo Street for Santei Shokai (SFPMA 1931)
1. Compound house as a showroom at 207 Queen Street for Shokichi Kuge (NAS 1307/1922)
1. Compound house as the Japanese Printing Press at 111 Middle Road (NAS 2478/1915)
1. Echigoya, a Japanese draper, at 131 Middle Road (NAS 202380/1937, 202371/1930)
1. Nanyo Engineering Works at 378, 379 and 379-1 Victoria Street (MT 1924)
1. Compound house as Far Eastern Publishers at 76 Bras Basah Road (NLB Lee Kip Lin Collection 1972)
Hotels
1. Compound house as Hotel Yamato at 162 Bencoolen Street (ST 1922)
1. Compound house as Hotel Yesubiya at 72 Waterloo Street (NAS 318/1923)
1. Toyo Hotel at 208 Queen Street for N. Ryu (NAS 131/1938, Syonan Shimbun 1942)
1. Miyama Hotel at 120 Middle Road (NAS 56/1920)
1. J Hotel at 165 Middle Road (NAS 1611/1914)
Massage parlours
1. 4 Bencoolen Street for Miss Nobu (ST 1925)
1. 5 Bencoolen Street for Mrs Sonoda, Miss Sezuai and Miss Chiyo (ST1928)
1. 239 Bencoolen Street – compound house: Mrs Haru and Mr Fujita (SFPMA 1914), Mrs Haru and and Miss Hana (SFPMA 1922)
1. 60 Waterloo Street for Mrs Haru and Miss Hana (ST 1923)
1. 61 Waterloo Street for Mrs Sakuko (ST 1925)
1. 121 Waterloo Street for Mrs Chika at (ST 1923)
1. 14 Queen Street for Mrs Hata (MT 1917)
1. 208 Queen Street – compound house: for Mrs S. Nagashima (MT 1916)
Institutions
1. Shophouse as Hong Ngan Gee Japanese Temple at 21 Bencoolen Street (NAS 13/1935)
1. Japanese Fencing School at 376 Victoria Street (ST 1908)
1. Japanese Elementary School at 155 Waterloo Street (SFPMA 1927, ST 1934, Syonan Shimbun 1943)
1. Compound house as the Japanese Commercial Museum at 77 Bras Basah Road (NAS 538/1918)
1. Compound house as the Singapore Japanese Club at 36/107 Selegie Road (NAS 178714; Abraham Chiu, Reel 4, Page 2; Badon Sainullah, Reel 28, Page 225)
1. Building as the Japanese Chamber of Commerce at 587 North Bridge Road (NAS SP000901)

The Hebrew School and the Japanese temple: forgotten institutions

Other forgotten landmarks include the Hebrew School (1916) that was formerly located behind the Synagogue, and a Japanese temple, the Hong Ngan Gee Temple (1935) along Bencoolen Street, in front of the site of the Hebrew School. The website for the Hebrew School in Singapore today does not mention this older Hebrew School from 1916.

Other aricles in this 10-part series:

Part 1: Campong / Kampong: Forgotten shared urban ward names in colonial Singapore

Part 2: Compound houses and compound shophouses

Part 3: Lorongs in Kampung Bengkulu: The forgotten alleys of history

Part 4: Kampong Serani: Some Notes on the Eurasian Community in Town

Part 5: Kampong Melaka and the other story of Singapore River

Part 6: Chinese beyond Chinatown: Kampong Melaka

Part 7: The multiple sites of the Chulia community

Part 8: Malays in the heart of “Chinatown”: Kg Penghulu Kesang

Part 9: Kampong Bengkulu’s Jewish Mahalla and Japan Town

Part 10: Kampong Dhoby, Queen Street: A lost North Indian quarter