Across the entire facade Father Nain threw a colonnade two storeys in height . There was originally a parapet above the roof line decorated with urns . This was later dismantled . The colonnade consists of a giant Corinthian pilaster order , with a Tuscan arcade below , and twin arches with a Corinthian colonnette between them , above , in each pilaster bay .
Father Nain ' s composition , it has been said , is reminiscent of Bernini ' s Colonnade in front ofSt Peter ' s in Rome , and the way in which the curving wings are stopped to frame the central block is the most obvious debt to Bernini ' s similar framing of St Peter ' s . The dome plays an important part in uniting the entire design of SJI , as it does on an infinitely larger scale in Rome .
The central carriage entrance was originally only one storey in heigh t , and the ' foyer ' over it was added later .
Before trees screened it and road widening diminished the size of the playing field in front of it , the long facade of this gracious and handsome building could be seen from Starnford Road . From this view- . point the building made an emphatic statement about the Brothers ' presence in Singapore .
Father Nain ' s beautiful designs for the new school rest today in the National Archives , with four pages of specifications on exercise book paper . He was simultaneously employed on building a Gothic chapel for the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Victoria Street . We can imagine his burly figure moving between the two sites directing , advising and devising methods of fixing a classicalmoulding or a Gothic trefoil . Such buildings would never have been possible had he not given them his daily attention . Brother Michael noted that ' the entire plan was made and carried outby Father Nain who threw his whole soul into the work .'
Left , Reverend Brother Michael , Director of St loseph ' s Institution 1900-1914 . Right , Father Charles-Benedici Nain , priest and architect ( 1870-1916 ).
Having started in October 1901 , Brother Michael wrote in December : ' Our school building is going up very fast and , when completed , it will be one of the finest buildings in the East .' In February he wrote to his Superior in Paris : ' My health is butfairas lam kept constantly on my feet on account of our New School building .' In May he wrote to acknowledge the safe arrival of a new gold watch and added that the only mishap it met with was the glass was broken . He would have a new one put in .
At the end of June 1902he presented the watch to Father Nain as a token of gratitude for all the work that he had done for the Brothers . In February 1903 Bishop Fee of Malacca came to dedicate the new building , bu t Brother Michael himself was feeling too ill to attend .
It is appropriate here to indicate briefly the rest of the life of Father Nain , who was so great a benefactor to the school . In 1904he became the pastor of the parish of St Paul , Seremban . He spent himself tirelessly there visiting his far-flung Chinese congregation . Eventually he became so ill that he was obliged to return to France to recover . He was there for two years and then returned to Singapore as the parish priest of the Church of the Good Shepherd . Here he remained until 1913 when his health again forced him to go home . When the Great War broke out in 1914he was called up for military service and posted to a medical unit . Soon the conditions of army life , combined with a weakened constitution , brought about a crisis , and he died at Vichy in 1916 . He was only forty-six years old .
Among the first visitors , when the new building had been completed , was Sir Frank Swettenham , the Governor of the Straits Colony and High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States . On this occasion he declared : ' You have made good use of public money , and to show you tha tI am pleased , Iwill have tha t wall of the Convict Gaol opposite removed and a railing put in its place , so that your beautiful building will be visible from Starnford Road .' He was as good as his word . Contemporary photographs show the long white building , standing at the end of the field , unscreened either by a wall or by any trees .
Meanwhile , the demand for places at SJIrose year byyear . The number on the roll in 1905was 743 , compared with 426 in 1900 . Rather than continue resorting to temporary and makeshift accommodation , Brother Michael felt that he was justified in raising money for a new classroom block that would take care of expansion for a long time to come .
Atthis time the mostgli tteringacademicprizes to be won in the colony were the coveted Queen ' s scholarships . They were worth £ 250a year and entitled the winners , ofwhom there were two each year , to a maximum of five years of University education in the United Kingdom . In 1905both the awards were won by boys from SJI , the first by Ernest Carlos and the second by Fred Martens . The latter was not a British subject and so was ineligible , and Rene Eber took it instead . In 1906the first prize went to Oaude da Silva and the second to a boy from St Xavier ' s , Penang . These academic achievements , combined with SJI ' s clearly visible expansion , earned Brother Michael the respect of the leadership among the Straits Chinese Community and the Government administration .
In the next phase of expansion Brother Michael felt that he could go withou t hesitation to the most prominentStraitsChinese , Tan Iiak Kim , and invite him to be the Chairman of his Appeal Committee . Mr Tan was the heir to a fortune that had been built up by his grandfather in Malacca . His father had continued the business in Singapore , and he himself was a founder of the Straits Steamship Company and was on the Board of Directors for more than twenty years . He was a Municipal Councillor and a member of the Legislative Council . He was one of the founders of the King Edward vn Medical School , and also of the Chinese Girls ' School . His full-length portrait is in the Rotunda of the National Museum , where he is shown wearing the Cross of the Most Excellent Order of St Michael and St George , which he was awarded by the
The Builder , Reverend Brother Michael 11