I REFER to the recent report on the sale of Beverly Mai condominium ('Collective sale: $8.8m for tycoon'; ST, Aug 30).
I was mortified to learn that the 28-storey building has been sold en bloc. Will Beverly Mai follow the same fate as other apartment blocks which have been sold and subsequently demolished?
If so, it saddens me to learn that Singapore remains indifferent to the value of significant architectural works of the 1970s such as Beverly Mai, and few can see beyond the multiple-digit transactions that increasingly shape the city skyline.
Beverly Mai has an important place in the architectural history of Singapore, as the first condominium development. It introduced Singaporeans to the concept of shared facilities, for example, swimming pools and other recreational facilities. It was also the first to bring maisonette living to Singapore - this alone makes the building relevant to the city's built environment.
Furthermore, the building represents a generation of towers (including the Futura and Habitat apartments, for example) which daringly challenged the conventional form of the apartment block, dull examples of which choke the neighbourhood of Beverly Mai.
Its bold, arresting form is largely unchanged since its completion in 1974 as the photograph which accompanied the ST report amply showed, and gives it a strength of character its neighbours lack.
Beverly Mai's contribution to Singapore architecture has been acknowledged in two recent publications, both of which recognise its revolutionary concept.
Last year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) organised Singapore 1:1 City, a project that highlighted benchmark developments of Singapore and this was subsequently published. Beverly Mai was selected as one of the most important works from the period of 'nation building'. Will the URA authorise the demolition of this significant landmark?
And will Singapore in time regret the loss of buildings like Beverly Mai?
Will it be too late for an entire generation of late 20th century buildings when heritage legislation finally catches up with the 1970s?
Two decades ago, Singapore moved perilously close to losing all its once-ubiquitous pre-war shophouses. But many of these were sacrificed to highly prioritised national programmes of urban renewal and rehabilitation, and at a time when heritage awareness was low.
It would be a great shame to see history repeat itself. Only this time, it would be profit and greed that brings down one of the city's finest towers.
Lim Huck Chin
