Eng Aun Tong Building, also known as Tiger Balm Medical Hall, is a historic building at the corner of

Neil Road Neil Road () is a one-way road in Chinatown, Singapore, Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar in the Urban planning areas in Singapore, planning areas of Outram, Singapore, Outram and Bukit Merah in Singapore. The road starts at the junction of South Bridge ...

and Craig Road in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore. Completed in the 1920s, it served as the

Tiger Balm Tiger Balm () is an analgesic heat rub manufactured and distributed by Singaporean company Haw Par Corporation, Haw Par Healthcare. It is used for external pain relief. History A precursor to Tiger Balm called Ban Kin Yu ( zh, t=萬金油, ...

factory for several decades.

Description

The building was designed in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, featuring cornices, arches, columns and a hexagonal pavilion on the roof, which may be a reference to the Tiger Balm bottle. It previously featured a model of a tiger on its front. The building is among the few pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

structures in Singapore to feature a flat roof.

History

The building was opened as the Tiger Balm factory in 1926 by brothers

Aw Boon Haw Aw Boon-Haw (; 1882–1954), OBE, was a Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as founder of Tiger Balm. He was a son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu-Kin, with his ancestral home in Yongding County, Fujian, China. Career Aw was a B ...

and

Aw Boon Par Aw Boon Par (; 1888–1944) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm. He was a son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu-Kin.Beverland, Michael (2009) ''Building Brand Authenticity: 7 Habits of Iconic Brands'' Palgrave ...

. Aw Boon Haw soon filed a lawsuit against a medical hall of the same name which had been established earlier at nearby 132-134

Tanjong Pagar Road Tanjong Pagar (New Rumi Spelling, alternatively spelled ''Tanjung Pagar'') is a historic district located within the Central Business District of Singapore, straddling the Outram, Singapore, Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the ...

, demanding that the older business change its name. He lost the charge, and both businesses "went on to co-exist peacefully for years". The building continued to serve as the Tiger Balm factory for around 50 years. On 10 August 1961, a fire in the building resulted in the destruction of $3,000 worth of Chinese medicinal products. The building was purchased by garment maker Singapore Crocodile in 1973. In 1995, the company leased it to the newly-established French Business Centre, which aimed to support French

Small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organiza ...

who were looking to set up in Singapore, until 2000. In July 1997, Singapore Crocodile put the property up for sale with an asking price of $22 million. However, the company withdrew the sale as a result of the "depressed property market". In 2007,

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

moved into the building. In this period, the building also housed

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

and

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

. On 4 December 2019, American

fast casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, is a restaurant that does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast-food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is a ...

chain

Shake Shack Shake Shack is an American multinational fast casual restaurant chain based in New York City. It started out as a hot dog cart inside Madison Square Park in 2001, and its popularity steadily grew. In 2004, it received a permit to open a permane ...

announced that it would be opening its second Singaporean outlet in the building. The outlet opened on 7 February 2020, occupying the building's ground floor.

References

{{coord, 1.27856, 103.84168, format=dms, type:landmark_region:SG, display=title 1926 establishments in Singapore Buildings and structures in Singapore