At 29 Rowell Road sits a shophouse unlike the others around it. No budget eatery, auto repair shop, or den of iniquity, Baroque House is bedecked with pricey, ornate furnishings and teems with art and culture. Founded and lovingly fixed up by Sonia Ong in 2021, the event space currently hosts tea tastings, private dinners with bourbon tastings and art exhibitions. It also acts as a venue for mini concerts and has hosted an opera singer, a pianist and a harpist.
The mistress of the house will candidly divulge that the baroque concept was an afterthought—the focus was always the pre-war conservation shophouse. “When I fell in love with the house, I hadn’t thought about the furniture. I’m a huge IKEA fan, but realised that I couldn’t just fill it with IKEA pieces because people won’t understand my love for this house if I don’t decorate it appropriately,” explains Ong. So put it together appropriately she did, and key interior pieces include SLAMP lamps and a dining table made out of shell.
The marvels of the property, though, are the original design elements more than a century old. Take the flooring: the rooms downstairs feature 3D, hand-cast tiles with added minerals and semi-precious stones while the rooms upstairs have wooden planks—“the type they don’t make anymore”—that run from wall to wall. There is also an exposed wall of handmade bricks in uneven shapes.
The cherry on top is a huge floral gable motif typically seen at the front and end of a building, a clear indication that the house was an addition to what had been a corner unit. “We didn’t discover it until six months into the renovation, when the ceiling was taken apart,” reveals Ong.
Revamping and restoring the building has enabled the proprietress to uncover its secrets, and she offers a tour of the place to the public for a token fee.
“It’s called the Secret Garden Tour because this house has many secrets. The ‘garden’ is, of course, a tribute to the floral gable motif.”
Sonia Ong on the naming convention
She adds that guests who come by for tastings won’t be able to check out all areas of the house and that the experience is solely for those who sign up for the tour.
It is also only through the tour that guests will have access to the Red Room, which hides away a 200-year-old Qing Dynasty-style conjugal bed. According to Ong, this antique piece of furniture is particularly rare because it is outfitted with an alcove—a sign that it once belonged to nobility as the bay either allowed a servant to tend to the couple hand and foot or gave them the luxury of a wash basin nearby.
But much as she ensures it remains carefully preserved, she is open to renting it out for a night. “I call it the ‘Aman experience’,” she jests, “and will agree if the price is right as I have a mortgage to pay.”
Ong has grand plans for Baroque House. Besides using it to elevate art and culture, she also hopes to be able to host a concert every night at some point.
“Singapore is starved of culture. Our small markets make it difficult for even the most well-funded organisations to sell out tickets,” she asserts. “The idea of Baroque House is to capture niche crowds and be a space where people will be proud to perform at for a nominal fee. It is a collaboration as we’re all in art for art’s sake.”
Never one to limit herself, she is also open to throwing a rave party for 100 people at some point. “These stairs have supported the weight of 16 men together, so it should be fine,” she says cheekily.
Art Director: Ed Harland
Videographer: Alicia Chong
Photographer: Mun Kong
Photographer’s assistant: Ren Jie Teo
Hair & Makeup: Aung Apichai
