Famous guests include Liz Taylor , Charlie Chaplin and Somerset Maugham . Hotel opened in 1887 and became a much loved British colonial bolt-hole . The hotel was built by the English architect John Loughborough Pearson for his friend Sir William Henry Smith who had just bought it from its previous owner Lord Randolph Churchill. It 's head bartender Ngiam Tong Boon invented the Singapore Sling in 1915 .
Famous guests include Liz Taylor , Charlie Chaplin and Somerset Maugham . Hotel opened in 1887 and became a much loved British colonial bolt-hole . In 1902 a tiger apparently got into the billiards room and hid under a table . It 's head bartender Ngiam Tong Boon invented the Singapore Sling in 1915 .