Hotel 1929: Little Jewel of Retro Design

Hotel 1929 Little Jewel of Retro Design
A boutique hotel located in Singapore's Chinatown, 1929 has an old-world exterior that modestly hides a nouveau chic interior. The hotel has 32 individually designed rooms and features an interesting and colourful collection of unusual and classic chairs from owner Loh Lik Peng's private collection. If the names Charles Eames, Joseph Hoffman, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton and Louis Poulson mean anything to you, you'll love this hotel.

The small reception area alone offers a glimpse of just what the hotel has to offer in terms of d�cor eye candy. As you step in, you are not only greeted by a friendly member of the staff but by the sight of a Hans Wagner "Bear" chair on the left, a real surgeon's chair at the reception counter and an Eames DCW chair on the right. Somewhere near the entrance is an old barber's chair - just one of the many items circa 1900 to the 1920s that serves as a reminder of the old days.

After all, 1929 is an amalgamation of five colonial-era shop houses built in 1929 (hence the hotel's name). Located in the former red light district of Keong Saik Road, the hotel and its closer surroundings have been spruced up considerably over the recent years. Loh, a former lawyer, enlisted the help of design firm Chua Ka Seng to give the four-storey building a further major makeover.

The design firm came up wit