building's second floor. Although few records exist concerning the moon gate's construction and usage, it is known to have made its appearance in the house in the 1960s and to have been designed and built by William Swaffield, a pre-World War II Comptroller of Government House and a professional furniture designer. It is constructed of chengal, teak and meranti wood. In the middle of the driveway in front of the house, there is a brick pit that was originally used by horse-drawn carriages. The house was gazetted together with the Istana as a national monument on 14 February 1992. Sri Temasek was not used for a number of years and fell into disrepair. It then underwent restoration between 2006 and March 2008 by CPG Consultants under the supervision of architect Maureen Soh. As the original hand-crafted timber arches and railings on the first-storey verandah had been damaged by termites, replacements moulded from the originals made with an aluminium-cast alloy were used. Details on railings, doors and windows were restored, and several pintu pagar (traditional wooden half-doors) and wooden flooring reinstated. The former servants' quarters at the rear of the building were turned into a heritage gallery. The restoration works on Sri Temasek won the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Architectural Heritage Award in Category A (national monuments and fully conserved buildings) in 2008. Use When first built in 1869, Sri Temasek was the residence of the Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements (later Colonial Secretary/Chief Secretary of Singapore). All holders of the position had resided in Sri Temasek from 1869 to 1959. It is currently designated as the official residence of the Prime Minister of Singapore since 1959, though none of the past and present holders of the post, Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong, have lived in it as a family home. In the 1998 book Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas, Lee Kuan Yew said that when he became prime minister in 1959, he and his wife Kwa Geok Choo decided not to move into Sri Temasek with their three children, who were then aged seven, five and two, because the couple "did not want them to grow up in such grand surroundings with butlers and orderlies to fuss over their needs". The family did stay there in 1965 for a short time for security reasons when Singapore was expelled from Malaysia. Apart from