CHIJMES

Chijmes was originally the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, a Catholic girls' boarding school and orphanage run by the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, founded in 1854 in central Singapore. The main building, Caldwell House, dates from 1840 and is in Palladian style; the striking neo-Gothic convent chapel was completed in 1903. The sisters left in 1983, the site was deconsecrated and after extensive restoration reopened in 1996 as a dining and event complex. Today the former classrooms and corridors house dozens of restaurants and bars, often compared in atmosphere to Covent Garden in London. Caldwell House and the Chapel are protected as National Monuments of Singapore, and the complex is one of the busiest evening gathering spots between Bras Basah and Bugis.