At the turn of the twentieth century, when tigers were already becoming extinct in Singapore, a living specimen was discovered under the Billiard Room of the Raffles Hotel. This chapter examines how this anecdote—while seemingly remote from the physical materiality of the building—has fundamentally shaped perceptions and architectural epistemologies of colonial Southeast Asian space.

Reflecting on her doctoral research on the Raffles Hotel, Chee addresses the dissonance between archival documentation and lived/mythological histories. She demonstrates how creative, interdisciplinary research strategies and feminist methodologies can materialize lost, non-tangible histories—such as rumors, myths, propaganda, and satire—to challenge conventional, male-dominated architectural history.