Discovering Singapore’s Best Kept Secrets
Exploring the Past, Re-imagining the Future of Singapore’s Historical State Properties
Tucked away in a quiet corner of Dover Road, an area associated with educational establishments, Medway Park, escapes the attention of many. The value of the collection of late colonial era residences is the link that it provides to the area’s discarded military past, a past that actually laid the foundations for some of its schools, space for the Singapore Polytechnic’s new home and eventually for the National University of Singapore’s UTown.
Medway Park, which Discovering Singapore’s Best Kept Secrets 2025/26 series will visit next, is an interesting study in itself. Built as Medway Park Married Quarter Estate to house officers of the Royal Army and their families, its construction came at a time, seemingly of expansion for the British military forces based in SIngapore, when it could not seem to build quickly enough for the numbers it was bringing in. The married quarter estate would be among the last to be built by the War Department before it turned to renting properties, and eventually buying over a private residential development during its construction.
Being among the last to be built Medway Park’s 82 houses were also the army’s most modern with a design suited to the changing tastes, needs and lifestyles of the fast modernising world. For example, patios and large balconies replaced verandahs, extensions with accommodation for live-in hired help replaced separated accommodation, and walk-in garages replaced porches. Having been reletively new and well located, the houses, some of which would be used by diplomatic staff, were popular renters following the British and later the ANZUK force pullout.
The visit to Medway Park will take place on 31 Jan 2026 at 9am. Participants will have to opportunity to visit two of the estate’s charming houses, each with a GFA of over 2,500 sq. ft and both with generously sized grounds. Participants will also be provided with some insights into the history of the area, the background to the names found in the area, as well as information on a key historical site nearby. The visit is being organised in collaboration with Singapore Land Authority.
Registration (via Peatix)
Spaces are limited and registration for the tour will be opened on 22 Jan 2026 at 10 am on Peatix (click here).
The Long and Winding Road 
Best place ive ever worked as a security guard in 1990