Toa Payoh Rise’s Past and Present
Relatively undisturbed for the past 50 years, Toa Payoh Rise may see a big change in the coming years, due to its location being one of the areas that will be affected by the construction of the...
View ArticleSingapore Monuments in Lego @National Library
The National Heritage Board (NDB) collaborates with My Little Brick Shop in the Building History: Monuments In Bricks And Blocks exhibition, which display Singapore’s eight national monuments made with...
View ArticleMemories of Bedok’s Princess
One by one, the good old (or bad, depending on your memories) cinemas of the eighties and nineties have closed down; their sites redeveloped or demolished. Bedok once had four cinemas – Bedok, Changi,...
View ArticleUnderstanding Singapore’s Different Types of Street Suffixes
According to the Ministry of Transport, there are more than 9,000 lane-km of roads in Singapore, which takes up the nation’s 12% of land. In the past decades, hundreds of roads had been expunged and...
View ArticleGoodbye Kampong Java Park
Come end of August, the 45-year-old Kampong Java Park will be permanently closed. Once a Christian cemetery bounded by Kampong Java Road and Bukit Timah Road, works were carried out in 1971 by the...
View ArticleClosure and Demolition of Bedok Swimming Complex
The seventies and eighties saw the rise of Singapore’s public swimming complexes. In almost every new town developed, there was one public pool to serve the residents. In the 20 years between 1970 and...
View ArticleRetracing the 26 Tracks of Punggol Road
A section of the old Punggol Road has walked into history in late August 2018. The pedestrianisation project will convert the 1.3km-long stretch of the road, between Punggol Drive and Ponggol...
View ArticleA Different Sanctuary at Mount Vernon
With the closure of Mount Vernon Columbarium in end-September 2018, a different type of sanctuary may appear in five years’ time when the new Bidadari housing estate is completed. It was back in 2013...
View Article10 Types of Vehicles that Had Disappeared from the Streets of Singapore
The advancement in transportation technologies has brought convenience and efficiency, and their rapid evolution saw the human- and animal-powered sedan chairs, rickshaws, bullock carts and gharries...
View ArticleEnd of Era for Normanton Park, and other HUDC Estates
The Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) scheme was started in 1974 to suit the aspiration of the middle-income residents in owning private homes, and to give the owners more control in the...
View ArticleGone Were the East Coast Park Chalets
Before staycation became a trendy word, chalets have always been a popular choice among Singaporeans, for barbecue sessions, or a short get-together with families or friends during the holidays. And...
View ArticleFrom Old Cemetery to Vibrant New Town; A Peck San Theng Heritage Gallery
After two years of conceptualisation, and supported by the National Heritage Board, the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng Heritage Gallery was officially opened in June 2018, showcasing the history of Peck...
View ArticleA Short History of Tampines Road – Busy Junction, Customs Station and Illegal...
There are a couple of old buildings along Tampines Road, near its junction with Upper Serangoon Road, that seem out of place standing among the new developments in the vicinity. They were the former...
View ArticleThe Idyllic Days of Changi Creek and Villages
Singapore has many rivers and waterways, one of which is Sungei Changi, also commonly known as Changi Creek (creek refers to a narrow, sheltered waterway), a short river situated at the northeastern...
View ArticleThe Lone HDB Block at Moulmein
Standing at the junction of Moulmein Road and Exit 7A of the Central Expressway (CTE), Block 69 cuts a lonely figure, being the only Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat in the vicinity. It was an...
View ArticleEnter a World of Advertisement in Old Singapore (Part 2)
The National Library’s “Selling Dreams: Early Advertising in Singapore” exhibition features many advertising materials from the 1830s to 1960s, with snippets of information about the advertisers and...
View ArticleSingapore Bicentennial 2019 – The Arrivals and Their Contributions
Singapore celebrates its bicentennial year, the 200th anniversary of Sir Stamford Raffles’ arrival, in 2019. One of the commemorative events is the setting up of four statues beside the existing...
View ArticleSembawang’s Kampong Mosque and Former Coastal Villages
Located in the secondary forest at the corner of Sembawang is an old mosque called Masjid Petempatan Melayu Sembawang. Built in 1963, the mosque served as a place of worship for the Muslim community...
View ArticlePast and Present Cemeteries of Singapore (Part 1) – Old Chinese Graveyards
The Chinese Tomb Sweeping Festival, or Qing Ming, is here once again. It is a period when tens of thousands of local Chinese make their way to the major cemeteries and columbaria to pay their respects...
View ArticleThe Vanished Colourful Landmark of Rochor
The colourful Rochor Centre flats, previously bounded by Rochor Road, Ophir Road and Queen Street, had seen their demolition completed. Motorists could no longer see the eye-catching landmark on their...
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