This paper examines the development of the settlement of Singapore along Singapore River in the 19th century, from a colonial trading outpost to a global entrepôt, by tracing the evolution of the godown. Found only in Asian ports, the godown is more than a utilitarian structure in which commodities were stored, processed, and traded. While architectural historians have paid scant attention to this building type, the godown contributed to Singapore’s economic success. The godown’s association with Chinese merchants and the commercial activities key to the colony’s ascendancy, such as processing raw produce and canning fruit, were contained within this combination of industrial and commercial space. By analysing drawings of godowns from the late 19th century, this research shows that the area along Singapore River was a mercantile contact zone and thus challenges two prevailing assumptions in architectural historiography. First, the development of the colonial port was not the work of just the colonial administrators but rather a joint enterprise of local merchants, European agency houses, and colonial administrators. And second, the common perception of the godown has long been that it is a form of imported Western architecture, but it is actually a building type specific to the region that integrated the skills, materials, and building traditions associated with migrant communities.