Capitol Building, formerly Shaws Building and Namazie Mansions, is a historic building at the junction of North Bridge Road and Stamford Road in the Downtown Core of Singapore. The building had since redeveloped along with adjoined Stamford House and both were reopened as a hotel The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore in October 2018.
History
Namazie Mansions was built by the architecture firm Keys & Dowdeswell next to the existing structure of the Capitol Theatre, which was built earlier in 1929, and was completed in 1930.[1] It was named after the owner, Mirza Mohamed Ali Namazie.
The style of the building is eclectic neoclassical, characterised by somewhat ponderous detailing. Its theatre was one of the very few air-conditioned theatres when it was built by the Namazies, a prominent Persian family to host live shows. By the mid-1930s, there were 10 cinemas, of which the Capitol was the largest and the newest. It opened in 1930 and was followed by the Alhambra, Marlborough, Pavilion, Roxy, Wembley, Tivoli, Empire, Jubilee and Gaiety.
As the Mansions fronted the theatre, the large movie billboards announcing the latest films were placed on its frontage, resulted the two buildings so closely associated that one was often mistaken for the other.