The beautiful St. Joseph’s Church has always had a place in my heart. It was the church at which my late mother received her sacraments as a child, were I often attended mass and Good Friday services in my youth and is one of few constants in the sea of change that has washed across much of the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct. Having closed for renovation and restoration in August 2017, the resplendently restore church building finally reopened on 30th June 2002.
The effort to restore the church, which is the only Portuguese heritage church in Singapore, recently won an award for conservation at URA’s 2024 Architectural Heritage Awards. Among the efforts that was involved in restoring the 1912-built monument were repairs on masonry cracks, undulating floors, extensive timber work including on the roof trusses, ceiling and stained-glass window frames, and a sagging choir loft.
Having spent quite a fair sum of money to restore the church, that is no guarantee that St. Joseph’s Church will retain the use of the site, whose lease is soon expiring. Some SGD 4 to 5 million is required for the church to renew its lease of the site for a 30-year term by February 2025, which the church is in the process of raising.
