NUS MuseumKent Ridge
Refrain, Reframe – Baba House Displaced
While NUS Baba House undergoes restoration, its Straits Chinese furniture, decorative arts and architectural fragments are regrouped and displayed in a new setting at NUS Museum.
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A bentwood kopitiam chair stands among the objects, the same kind of seat you find in coffee shops across Singapore, here shown next to the household things of a Straits Chinese home. NUS Baba House on Neil Road is closed for restoration until 2027, so its collection has moved to NUS Museum at Kent Ridge.
The museum doesn't rebuild the house's rooms. Furniture, decorative arts, domestic utensils and architectural fragments are grouped by function, material and theme instead, so an English ironstone wash basin on a Chinese stand and a handwoven tenong basket used for wedding deliveries sit side by side. The show also explains the research, documentation and decisions behind conserving a historic house museum.
Entry is free and the museum is open 10am to 6pm. It's the one museum chair you'll recognise from your Saturday kopi.
Editor's pick
Straits Chinese furniture, decorative arts and architectural fragments from NUS Baba House, regrouped at NUS Museum while the house itself is restored. Moving the furniture out for the builders, at heritage scale.
Look for
The bentwood kopitiam chair
A coffee-shop seat of the kind found across Singapore, displayed here as part of a Straits Chinese household.
The ironstone wash basin on a Chinese stand
An English ironstone basin set on a Chinese stand, two traditions combined in one piece of washroom furniture.
The tenong basket
A handwoven ceremonial container traditionally used for weddings and auspicious deliveries.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Nerding Out
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Image credits
5
- Fear No Power: Women Imagining OtherwiseCourtesy of National Gallery Singapore
- Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2026Courtesy of Singapore Art Museum
- Maria Taniguchi: AfterimageCourtesy of Singapore Art Museum
- NUS MuseumJoshua Rommel Hayag Vargas, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lee Kong Chian Natural History MuseumMoheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0