This is another row of shophouses developed by Madam Sim Cheng Neo that has since been restored, modernized and converted into a hotel, but without losing its original charm and façade, around the year 2000.
The building was designed and built by architect Kwan Yow Luen in 1928 with a distinct blend of East and West. The style is clearly European with the moulded designs looking very alive on the walls of the building. However, at the same time, the images all have strong Chinese and Asian symbolism such as bats, which are favoured by the Chinese as the Mandarin word for bat, ‘Fu’, sounds just like the Mandarin pronunciation for the Chinese word for ‘luck’. However, instead of the usual Chinese warriors that are depicted on doors of Chinese homes as symbolic guardians, the shophouse has Sikhs as its door guards as they were often employed as policemen in the colonial past.