High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style hotel in Singapore, dating from 1887, and named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. Managed by Raffles International, it is known for its luxurious accommodation and superb restaurants. The hotel houses a tropical garden courtyard, museum and Victorian-style theatre. The hotel was founded by the four Armenian Sarkies Brothers (Martin, Tigran, Aviet, and Arshak Sarkies). They opened the 10-room colonial bungalow at Beach Road and Bras Basah Road owned by an Arab trader and philantrophist Syed Mohamed Alsagoff on 1 December 1887. Alsagoff developed the site of his late father's estate until it became the most modern building in Singapore at the time. Sarkies was a tenant on favourable short-term lease. The original location was by the seaside, although continued reclamation means that the site is presently some 500 metres away from the shore. No Asians were permitted as hotel guests until the 1930s.