Tiger Club - Monsun U-Boat officers club in Singapore

Shown above is a popular club frequented by Monsun U-Boat officers in Singapore called the Tiger Club. It was a place to have their R & R and where both Japanese & German oficers get to know each other . However it should be noted that the actual name of the building before the war was Haw Par Mansion.

The first picture is an extract taken from the book "Shooting The War" - by Lt. Otto Giese ( a U-181 officer) and the last 2 pictures are a recreation of the internal design of the building.

Unfortunately the building has been torn down since 1945,according to Mr Lawrence, the current owner of the site.
However ,several places such as the pond, and other mytical chinese sculptures are still present. And the entire place is now changed to a kind of a chinese theme park called Haw Par Villa ,

to view the webpage of the chinese theme park.

Please read below for a short history of the building.

The Tiger Balm brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par were born in Rangoon, Burma in the 1880's. and were owners of the international famous all cure Tiger Balm ointment.

Aw Boon Haw bought this very site to build a house that would be a unique and fitting residence for his beloved brother Aw Boon Par. He commissioned Ho Kwong Yew, a brilliant young architect, to design a house that would complement the gardens which were to feature thousands of statues and tableaux depicting Chinese myths and legends and were to become well known all over the world as Tiger Balm Gardens.

The magnificent domed mansion was situated on the highest point of the hill and had a panoramic view of the sea and the southern islands. Boon Haw declared that no expense should be spared in building Haw Par Villa, the final cost in 1937 was estimated at over one million dollars. The site of the original villa is a the top of the hill at the Four Seasons Theatre.

Haw Par Villa was opened in March 1937 and many guests were invited to the grand reception hosted by Aw Boon Par, the lord of the manor.

The roof had six impressive domes surrounding a large central dome which covered the reception hall. There were six rooms, comprising two bedrooms, a drawing rooms, a dressing room, a dining room and a central hall each with a domed ceiling finished in gold. The furniture and fittings, imported from Europe, were the best that money could buy.

The villa was surrounded by lawn-covered terraces with globed lights and walls decorated with white balls. Two fish ponds, hundreds of statues and tableaux of Chinese myths and legends together with pagodas and pavilions were erected in the gardens.

Aw Boon Par lived in Haw Par Villa only a few years before the second world war broke out in 1939. In 1942 he was forced to flee with his family to Rangoon where he died in 1944.

Boon Haw returned from Hong Kong in 1945, and was so distraught by the loss of his brother and the derelict state of the house after the war that he decided to demolish the villa. However he continued to improve and expand the grounds until his death in 1954.

The Tiger Balm business has been sold off and as such they have to rename the place from Tiger to Haw Par Villa.