The Paragon

Coordinates: 1°18′13.72″N 103°50′07.70″E / 1.3038111°N 103.8354722°E / 1.3038111; 103.8354722

Paragon (Chinese: 百利宫) is an upmarketshopping centre on Orchard Road, Singapore.

The 20-storey shopping centre was designed by Kumpulan Senireka Sendirian Berhad, a Malaysian architectural firm. It was redeveloped in the late 1990s, transforming it into a modern glass-covered building. It has been described as “posh and sleek”.

In January 2008 Paragon embarked on a $82 million facelift which included a $37 million land premium to expand her commercial space which saw the addition of three more floors of office and medical space as well as new retails stores.

Led by the architecture firm DP Architects, the makeover was completed in Dec 2008. Paragon emerged with a contemporary facade.

The renovation was also in step with the URA's call to building owners to create more interesting and unique building facades to enhance the vibrancy of Orchard Road.

In July 2014, Stephen Wiltshire went to The Paragon to do a 4m by 1m sculpture for 5 days from 16 July 2014 and concluded on 20 July 2014.

Paragon (diamond)

A paragon is a perfect diamond — flawless and without inclusions. In the 16th century, a mass of twelve carats was sufficient to qualify for this designation, but today the threshold lies at 100 carats.

The largest flawless diamond in the world is known as The Paragon, a D-class gem weighing 137.82 carats, and the tenth largest white diamond in the world. The gem was mined in Brazil and attracted attention for being an exceptional white, flawless stone of great size. The Mayfair-based jeweller Graff Diamonds acquired the stone in Antwerp, cut it into an unusual seven-sided kite shield configuration, and set it in a necklace which separates to both necklace and bracelet lengths. Apart from the main stone, this necklace also contains rare pink, blue, and yellow diamonds, making a total mass of 190.27 carats. The necklace has associations with the end of the millennium and was worn by model Naomi Campbell at a diamond gala held by De Beers and Versace at Syon House in 1999.

The Paragon, Bath

The Paragon in the Walcot area of Bath, Somerset, England is a street of Georgian houses which have been designated as listed buildings. It was designed by Thomas Warr Attwood. It now forms part of the A4.

Numbers 1 to 21 are 3 storey houses with mansard roofs. Each building has matching doors and widows with central pediments and flat entablatures either side of the 1st floor windows and Tuscan pilasters and pediments to the doorways.

Numbers 22 to 37 continue the theme from numbers 1 to 21 and were completed in 1775 by Joseph Axford, a local mason. Numbers 28 to 32 were damaged by bombing during World War II but have since been restored.

History

St Swithin's Church was built between 1779 and 1790 by John Palmer. On 30 May 1797 the abolitionist William Wilberforce and Barbara Spooner Wilberforce were married in the church. It 1805 it was the burial place of the writer and poet Christopher Anstey and, in 1831 of Rear Admiral Sir Edward Berry. The church house which forms number 38 The Paragon was built in the early 18th century. The adjoining cemetery has gates with a rusticated base and panels with inverted torches between pilasters. There is an entablature with metopes and triglyphs.