Old Hill Street Police Station

The building went up in 1934 as a police station and barracks and was the largest government building of its day in Singapore, six storeys of neoclassical facade with an internal courtyard. What makes it a landmark now is a later decision: the nine hundred and twenty-seven window shutters were painted in the colours of the rainbow, running through the spectrum across the whole front. It houses government ministries and a public art gallery on the ground floor.

What you actually see

• The rainbow shutters - 927 windows painted through the colours of the spectrum.
• The 1934 facade - a six-storey neoclassical government front on the river.
• The courtyard - the internal light well at the centre of the block.
• The river setting - the building on the bank opposite Clarke Quay.

When to go

Year round; the exterior is the point and works at any hour. The ground-floor gallery keeps weekday hours. Evening lighting brings out the colours.

Honest expectations

It is a working ministry building and only the ground floor is public. The visit is a photograph and ten minutes. The colours are a late addition, not original.

Nearby

The Armenian Church is beside it, and Clarke Quay is across the river.