Replacing the verandah at the front of the Main Building of Raffles Hotel, the ballroom opened in 1920 and quickly earned the accolade of being the 'finest ballroom in the East'. Raffles Hotel was opened in December 1887, starting out as a three-storey, 10-room bungalow. It was founded by the Sarkies brothers, owners of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang. Illustrious names, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, counted as some of Raffles Hotel's earliest guests.
