Former Salmon’s Maternity Home in Prinsep Street set to be used as museum, school and cafe

SINGAPORE – One of retired architect Tia Boon Sim’s childhood memories is accompanying her father to a maternity hospital in Prinsep Street, where she climbed a staircase decorated with mosaic tiles to meet her baby sister for the first time.

A couple of years before, in November 1955, Ms Tia was herself born in Salmon’s Maternity Home, which was completed in 1950 and is believed to have functioned until the 1980s.

Ms Tia has no recollection of entering the old hospital since 1962 – the year her second sister was born. The founder of Urban Sketchers Singapore has, however, returned to 110 Prinsep Street a few times to sketch the building.

Soon, Ms Tia may get a chance to have a closer look at her birthplace once again, as the former private maternity hospital is set to be used as a museum, commercial school and cafe.

“I recall the building having an elevator with a collapsible gate – it was like a scene out of a Hong Kong movie with mosaic tiles everywhere, and I hope it will be open to the public so more can appreciate the beautiful grand old lady,” said Ms Tia of the former hospital.

The old Salmon’s Maternity Home was built and run by gynaecologist S.R. Salmon, who died in January 1984, and whose wake was held in the Prinsep Street compound.

The hospital was also the private home of Dr Salmon’s daughter, veteran gynaecologist Yvonne Marjorie Salmon, until she

. She never married and worked at Kandang Kerbau Hospital – now KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital – for 44 years before retiring in 1996.

A private healthcare institution named Salmon Clinic was registered to the old hospital’s address, under Dr Yvonne Salmon’s name, until at least 2004.

In May 2025, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) granted permission to convert the former hospital to various uses, including a museum and cafe on the first storey, a commercial school on the second to fourth storeys and museum storage on the fifth storey.

The URA had in March 2021 rejected an application for the old hospital’s first storey to be used as a restaurant, citing parking limitations.

“The limited parking spaces nearby are well utilised by the existing commercial establishments and residents living in the area,” the agency noted then.

Asked why it had approved the 2025 application, a URA spokesperson said the applicant had “reduced the scale of cafe use and incorporated carparking spaces at the development to address parking and traffic concerns”.

Therefore, “we granted a one-year temporary permission for the cafe use, which would allow us to monitor the ground situation before considering longer approvals”, the spokesperson added.

Based on the URA’s written permission issued on May 2, the proposed cafe’s operations must cease on May 2, 2026, while the museum and commercial school may run until May 2035.

When contacted, the property’s developer, Mr Chow Kum Lock, said the museum will showcase old medical books and artefacts, adding that he preferred to give more details on the building’s new uses only in early 2026.

Business records show that a person with the same name is currently a director of an entity named La Saurus Coffee that was incorporated in July 2020 and registered to the building’s address at 110 Prinsep Street.

A video posted online in May 2024 by artist and film lecturer Wesley Leon Aroozoo of the interior of the hospital shows the building has been stuck in time, with much of the old medical equipment still present.

A delivery ward named the “Birthday Room”, for instance, contained a delivery bed and a scale likely used to weigh newborns. Also present were basins for washing babies, bed frames affixed with bassinets, and an Otis lift with grille doors – likely the one that Ms Tia recalls – that are rarely seen today.

In January 2015, The Straits Times reported the URA in 2004 approached Dr Yvonne Salmon about the possibility of conserving the building, but she was not supportive of the matter.

Asked if conservation is still on the cards, the agency’s spokesperson said: “We have no plans to conserve the building.

“Instead, the applicant has been guided to retain some heritage elements on the first storey as part of the proposed works, to enable visitors to appreciate the building’s history as Singapore’s first private maternity hospital.”

The elements to be kept on the first storey include the original floor and wall tiles, as well as doors and windows.

Referencing the recent gazetting of the former

, Mr Ho Weng Hin, chair of heritage nonprofit Docomomo Singapore, said the old Salmon’s Maternity Home is “the flip side of the same coin”, representing the contributions of private sector medical specialists and midwives to Singapore’s post-World War II baby boom.

He said that not conserving the building is a missed opportunity because of its rarity and high intactness. Noting that the former hospital’s main block is attached to a rear apartment block that housed supporting staff, Mr Ho said the building is likely the last of its kind still standing in Singapore, “where the healthcare community lived and worked”.

From Mr Aroozoo’s video, said Mr Ho, it is evident that the building contains rare patterned wall and floor tiles that “exude a mid-century modern charm”, as well as vintage sanitary fittings that “typically would not have survived more than 10 years after such a building was built, which shows how precious the building is”.

“Many of these fittings are museum-class artefacts and should be accessioned in Singapore’s National Collection,” said Mr Ho, who is also a founding partner of architectural conservation specialist consultancy Studio Lapis.

Mr Jerome Lim, a heritage blogger and author, said he hopes that at least one room will be kept intact to recall the purpose of the site, which can be used for storytelling in the future.

Calling the old hospital a “rare example of a complete former medical facility that has retained much of its original layout, finishes and even fittings”, Mr Lim said the building provides a unique opportunity to get an insight into the 1950s – an era that he noted is less talked about.