I have been walking the streets of Geylang for close to a decade now. As much as it is a destination for a gluttonous excursion, and, if that isn’t sinful enough for the disreputable indulgences that Geylang has gained a certain notoriety for, the district’s main roads and numerous lorong-lorong (lanes) running off the main streets, are also full of colour — having been spared from the level of development that has robbed much of modern Singapore of character. An amazing array of religious institutions and houses of worship exist in the area, which has also become an abode for many transient workers. There is certainly no shortage of what the explorer and the photographer in me can take joy in. Here are some of what I have captured of Geylang, seen in quite different light, in fifty photographs:
Geylang, through the eyes of a long time “street-walker”
4 01 2021Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Conservation, Designated Red-Light Area, Geylang, Geylang Road, Hidden Spaces, Morning Light, Off the beaten track, Photography, Shophouses, Singapore, Streetscapes, Urban Landscapes
Categories : Changing Landscapes, Conservation, Geylang, Photography, Photography Series, Singapore, Walks, Windows into Singapore
The Government Housing gems at Seton Close
22 03 2020Found around the fringes of the Municipality of Singapore are several government housing gems such as several that were built using blueprints developed by the Public Works Department (PWD) in the 1910s. These, which include four Class III houses at Seton Close that were beautifully renovated for modern living in 2018, can be thought of as being among the PWD’s first purpose built designs.
The four at Seton Close, belonged to a larger set of six put up to house senior government officers in 1922. These are again, quite different from what could be thought of as an actual black and white house and feature a fair amount of masonry and have a main framework of concrete (as opposed to timber) columns and beams. Some of the upper level framework on the balcony projections and verandah (and of course roof supports) were however of timber. Much of these wooden structures would have been coated in black tar-based coatings, and would have (as they do to some extent now) featured a fair bit of black “trim”.
Designed with a porte-cochère, with a (since enclosed) verandah space above that would have served as a lounge in the evenings, the houses had their reception and dining spaces below. The well-ventilated bedrooms on the second level also opened to balconies, which have also since been enclosed.
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Tags: #SLAStateProperty, Black and White Houses, Colonial Architecture, Colonial Residences, Colonial Singapore, Government Quarters, Hidden Spaces, Not All Black and White, Old Places, Photography, Public Works Department, PWD, Seton Close, Singapore, State Property, Unseen Singapore
Categories : Architecture, Architecture, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Photography, Photography Series, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore, Singapore Architecture
A church once occupied by Sin
19 03 2013I took a walk by what, for a short moment, appeared to be a church in the woods. In an area in which woods in any form would have long abandoned – the corner of Waterloo Street and Middle Road, the building which resembles a small village church has for the better part of a century not actually used as one. Together with an adjacent two storey building, the church is now part of the Sculpture Square complex, a space dedicated to the promotion and development of contemporary 3-dimensional (3D) art.
My memories of the buildings are ones which date back to my younger days (of which I have actually written about in a previous post). The church building itself was always a curious sight each time I passed through the area, whether on the way home from church in the late 1960s and early 1970s, or from school in the late 1970s, when it had been occupied by Sin. The walls of the building were then coloured not just by the colour of its fading coat of paint, but also by streaks of motor oil and grease, having been used by a motor workshop, the Sin Sin Motor Co. My mother remembers it being used as a motor workshop as far back as her own days in school (she went to St. Anthony’s Convent further down Middle Road in the 1950s). The building next to it, which is built in a similar layout as many in the area which might ones which have been homes of wealthy merchants, had in those days been used as the Tai Loke Hotel (previously Tai Loke Lodging House) – one of several rather seedy looking budget hotels found in the area.
While not much is known about the building which the Tai Loke occupied, there is enough that is known about the church building which was erected from 1870 to 1875, based on information on a National Heritage Board (NHB) plaque at the site as well as on Sculpture Square’s website. It first saw use as the Christian Institute. The Methodists were in 1885, invited to use the building and it became the Middle Road Church (or Malay Church) after a transfer to the Methodists was made in 1892, until the church moved to Kampong Kapor in 1929. Interestingly, the building also housed the Methodist Girls’ School which was started at nearby Short Street for a while until 1900. According to information on Sculpture Square’s website, the building had apparently also seen life as a Chinese restaurant, the “May Blossom Restaurant” during the war.
Following years of neglect, the former church building when it was vacated by the motor workshop possibly at the end of the 1980s, was left in rather a dilapidated condition and it was a local sculptor, Sun Yu Li, who saw its potential for use as an arts venue which was opened as Sculpture Square in 1999.
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Tags: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Architecture, Baba Church, Best Photography Blog, Built Heritage, Church in the Woods, Early Methodist Community in Singapore, Forgotten Places, Hidden Spaces, Lost Places, Malay Church, Middle Road, Middle Road Church, Motor Workshop, Schooldays, Sculpture Square, Sin Sin Motor Co, Singapore, Tai Loke Hotel, Unseen Singapore, Waterloo Street
Categories : Architecture, Bras Basah, Conservation, Forgotten Buildings, From the backseat of a car, Growing Up, Middle Road Area, Reminders of Yesterday, Schooldays, Singapore, SJI