The Raffles Hotel was started by the famed Sarkies brothers in 1887 at the junction of what is today Beach Road and Bras Basah Road. The original building that housed the hotel was initially a bungalow known as Beach House, which was built in the 1830s to serve as the private residence of Robert Scott, who was a descendant of the prominent poet, Sir Walter Scott. Additional structures were added through various expansion works over the years, most notably in the 1890s and 1900s when the Palm Court and Bras Basah Wings, Main Building and Billiard Room were constructed. Briefly renamed ‘Syonan Ryokan’, meaning ‘Light of the South Hotel’, during the Japanese Occupation, the hotel resumed normal operations after the war. The most recent renovation works were completed in 1991, which restored the ageing establishment to its former glory as one of the iconic landmarks in the busy town centre.
