This cathedral was Singapore’s first permanent Catholic church. Built in the 1840s, it unified many elements of a fractured parish. In the early days of the colony, the Portuguese Mission thought itself the fount of the Holy Roman Empire’s presence on the island, and so the French bishop was reduced to holding services at the home of a Mr. McSwiney on Bras Basah Road, a dissenting Portuguese priest held forth at a certain Dr. d’Ameida’s residence, and the Spanish priest was so reduced that we don’t even know where he held his services.
These folks were none too pleased with their makeshift houses of worship and so banded together to establish their own cathedral — the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. Designed in a Latin cross pattern, much of its architecture is reminiscent of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St. Paul’s in Covent Garden. The archbishop’s residence, in contrast, is a simple two-story bungalow with enclosed verandas and a portico. Also on the grounds are the resident’s quarters and the priests’ residence, the latter more ornate in design, with elaborate plasterwork.