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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Congratulations, Church of St Bernadette and URA
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with great interest about the successful renovation of the Church of St Bernadette into an air-conditioned building while keeping the original exterior ("Monuments honour: Why church hesitant", Monday).
I congratulate the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for placing the church on the country's heritage list of national monuments.
It was one of the first post-independence era religious buildings to be placed on the list. This church was designed by one of our pioneer architects, Alfred Wong, who designed a total of 12 Catholic churches during the same era, but unfortunately not many of these still remain.
After retiring from AWP Pte Ltd, of which he was a founder member, Mr Wong went on to work as chairman of the Preservation of Monuments Board where he applied his efforts to preserving our heritage buildings.
It seems a very fortunate coincidence, therefore, that between the efforts of the church's building committee and the URA, one of his early designs has been conserved and new life injected into the renovated building. The church and URA should be congratulated for maintaining our historic heritage.
Gerard de Souza
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with great interest about the successful renovation of the Church of St Bernadette into an air-conditioned building while keeping the original exterior ("Monuments honour: Why church hesitant", Monday).
I congratulate the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for placing the church on the country's heritage list of national monuments.
It was one of the first post-independence era religious buildings to be placed on the list. This church was designed by one of our pioneer architects, Alfred Wong, who designed a total of 12 Catholic churches during the same era, but unfortunately not many of these still remain.
After retiring from AWP Pte Ltd, of which he was a founder member, Mr Wong went on to work as chairman of the Preservation of Monuments Board where he applied his efforts to preserving our heritage buildings.
It seems a very fortunate coincidence, therefore, that between the efforts of the church's building committee and the URA, one of his early designs has been conserved and new life injected into the renovated building. The church and URA should be congratulated for maintaining our historic heritage.
Gerard de Souza
