: Conserving a Landscape Tradition

The has evolved over 100 years (1840-1940) of Singapore's history, and remains a symbol of the city's vernacular architectural tradition. Capturing the architectural traditions of both the East and West, this - once ubiquitous - building has undergone many transformations. Victor Savage looks at the past and present, origins, growth, demise and conservation of the shophouse in Singapore

ike many cities in the developing world, the urge to modernize and develop landscape traditions of the western L world as symbols of development has led to the demise of the shophouse in Singapore. At one phase of Singapore's frenzied development, it would seem that its planners and government officials were seized by the demons of destruction to wipe out all historical buildings. Well, almost 70 per cent of the colonial landscape has been eradicated before sanity prevailed.

What is a shophouse? No one knows exactly how the term 'shophouse' was first coined. This word is not found in any of the major dictionaries or encyclopaedias. Furthermore, none of the early writers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used the term 'shophouse' specifically although from the descriptions given, these 'dwelling house', 'labour line', 'tenement', 'commercial house' and 'native's shop' fit basically the 'shophouse'. In fact, the earliest reference to 'shophouse' was in the 1946 Annual Report on Singapore (Annual Report 1946:72).

5 Definitions of the shop- be broadly defined as a vernacu- poses or other functions such as house are relatively recent. lar building of two to five associations, guilds, mahjong Based on the criteria of the gen- storeys high; following a basic clubs, illegal gambling dens, eral plan of the shophouse, the floor plan of a narrow frontage brothels and so on. first Singapore Master Plan of and common party-walls; with a The Singapore shophouse 1955 defined the shophouse as versatility of being able to serve shares many basic characteris- a form of housing with a 'narrow many functions such as eco- tics with its counterparts in frontage of 20 feet (6 m) or less, nomic, residential and recre- Malaysia and Phuket Island built in terraces without side ational purposes; lacking in (south of ). This could ventilation to a depth of 60 or 70 basic amenities and modern be due to their close geographi- feet (18 to 20 m)'. facilities such as a flush toilet cal position as well as the fact More recent definitions of system, fire escape, well-venti- that these countries have the shophouse highlight the lated rooms, escalators and lifts; shared similar historical links in many functions of the building. and lastly, it possesses the capa- the colonial era. The diffusion 'It is a common practice in small bility of residential 'involution', of the shophouse to Phuket is a businesses to maintain the i.e. it is able to absorb a huge result of the Chinese labour that ground floor as a shop, godown, number of people by the pro- moved from to Phuket servants' quarters or office cess of dividing and subdividing Many Chinese set up busi- while the owner lived on the its living space into tiny cu- nesses revolving around upper floor or used it as a store' bicles. Phuket's thriving tin-mining in- (Vatsaloo, 1981:12). Kohl Singapore shophouses dustry, hence the strong Chi- (1984:172) uses the term that are built after the Second nese Penang connections in 'shophouse' to indicate the 'es- World War do not follow the Phuket till today. sentially multi-purpose func- same basic plan and building tions of these buildings, combin- structures, and are distinctly The Origins and Spatial ing business areas on the different from those built before Spread of the Shophouse ground floor with residential this period. The term 'shop- The English colonialists' town quarters on the upper floors'. house' is also taken to include plan, the Raffles' Plan (to physi- All these definitions 'terrace shophouse' although cally separate the various racial broadly define the shophouse to this type is mainly used for resi- communities on the island in the a limited extent although none dential purposes. This is be- early 19th Century), is clearly of them totally embraces its cause both are 'one and the illustrated in the figure on the numerous variations. The same in plan, form and stylistic next page which was redrawn shophouse as a vernacular treatment, built in rows sharing from a map by Lt. Philip Jack- building varies from place to load-bearing party-walls and son in 1828 (Fig. 1). The map place in terms of its architec- with units which are connected shows distinctly the segregation tural design, the socio-economic by a continuous covered walk- of the different races and the functions and cultural influ- way (also known as five-foot areas that were allocated to ences. Even in a small island way)' (Vatsaloo, 1981:4). It is them. like Singapore, there is no ho- difficult to generalise that all Following this plan, the mogeneity in the morphology shophouses must have a com- Chinese built their shophouses (i.e. the physical form) of the mercial unit because there are along the streets which were shophouse. some instances where in a row laid out by the administrators in To sum up the various of shophouses, some units are a grid-iron pattern (Fig. 1). Be- definitions, the shophouse can used mainly for residential pur- tween 1826 and 1827, more than

6 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 Figure 1: Jackson's plan of the town (1823) showing ethnic residential areas. (After John Crawfurd, Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China, 1828). 200 leases were given out to the which existed before the war Although urban renewal Chinese inhabitants to build on prevailed till the 1960s. has brought about a decline of land situated, predominantly, on In the survey, it was found shophouses within the Central the south side of the Singapore that more than one-third of the Area in the 1960s, this marked River which is the Chinese sec- sample population (i.e. 38.9 per clustering in the city centre as tor in the Raffles' Plan (at Mar- cent) which amounted to 7,262 compared to those areas further ket Street, Philip Street, Telok persons or 2,364 households away can still be seen in the Ayer Street, Church Street, stayed in shophouses (Goh, 1980 Census Report on census China Street, Pekin Street, 1956:63). Within the city cen- houses (Table 1). Kling Street, Circular Road, tre, more than three quarters of The rapid population in- Amoy Street, , the households surveyed were crease up to 1931 was mainly and High housed in shophouses (Goh, due to large scale migration Street (Song, 1967:26)). The 1956:64). This concentration of from China and India. For ex- streets were an important fea- shophouses in the city centre ample, there was an increase of ture because their 'uniformity (Central Area) led Goh (1956: 83 per cent in the Chinese and and regularity' (Clause 15 of 81) to conclude that the shop- Indian population between 1911 Raffles' letter, 4 November house was the most important and 1931 but a steady natural 1822) determined the liner type of dwelling in terms of the increase took the place of migra- shophouse development on number of occupants in the city tion as the main factor of popu- both sides of these streets. area. lation increase after 1945 - a re- As the British colony ex- panded rapidly, so did the Chi- nese population. In 1824, the Table 1: Number of shophouses by area, 1980 Chinese was estimated to be (adapted from C H Khoo, Census of Population 1980, Singapore) around 3,317, i.e. nearly one- third of the total population of AREA 1NUMBER OF SHOPHOUSES Central Area 10,683. By 1840, this figure had North of the grown to 17,704 which was Cairnhill area 433 slightly more than half the total Glam 1,393 Jalan Besar 1,060 population of 35,389 people. River Valley road 379 Most of this Chinese population Rochore area 1,116 lived in the shophouses which Sub-total 4,381 were mainly confined to the South of the Singapore River Chinese area allocated by Anson area 590 Raffles. Havelock Road 355 Kreta Ayer 768 Although no data could be Road 724 found to substantiate the num- Teluk Ayer Street 1,501 Sub-total 3,938 ber of shophouses in the Cen- Total (within Central Area) 8,319 tral Area during the pre-1945 period, this concentration of Outside Central Area Braddel Heights 155 shophouses can be imputed 157 from the social survey done by BukitTimah 153 480 Goh Keng Swee (1953/54) on (east and west) 892 urban income and housing be- Upper 278 cause the shophouse conditions Total 2,115

8 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 suit of the 'post-war baby boom' itself, living spaces were divided per cent of the population lived (Blythe, 1951:23). and subdivided into tiny cu- in the Municipal Area of 31 The expanding immigrant bicles which were then rented square miles (80 sq km) (Goh, population in the early twentieth out to the new migrants. This 1956:21). The density of popu- century led to an increase in practice of internal division lation in the area in housing demand, and shop- continued right up to the late 1953 was 1,250 persons per houses were built at a very 1950s. hectare (Mak, 1975:25) and it rapid rate. The population de- The population in the pre- was estimated that in 1960, mand, however, outstripped the 1945 era was concentrated in nearly one quarter of a million shophouse residential supply; the Central Area, and even up people were living in badly therefore, within the shophouse till 1947, it was reported that 72 degenerated slums comprising

Figure 2: Distribution of Chinese Population

Figure 3: People Living in Shophouses

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 9 shophouses of nearly a century programme was started, more 1956:4) and some of these old (Choe, 1975:98). than 121 hectares of slum and shophouses can be seen in Ar- Based on the distribution densely squattered areas in the menian Street. of Chinese population in the strategic city centre (Choe, Almost all of the early Central Area and the concentra- 1975:109) had been cleared Chinese buildings built in the tion of shophouses in the Cen- away. The governmental Hous- 1820s were arranged with the tral Area, it seems evident that ing and Development Board primary elements on the North- (HDB)'s es- South axis while the secondary tablishment elements develop transversally of new hous- to them, resulting, therefore, in ing estates a rectangular or square form of away from the plan. The pillars, rafters and city centre beams in the roofs and walls (e.g. Queens- were also exposed and empha- town, Toa Pa- sized. These early shophouses yoh, , have no facades because they Marine Pa- were simply arranged with sup- rade, etc.) was porting pillars and unhidden, instrumental unadorned cross-beams (Kohl, in reducing 1984:179). This sort of con- Shophouses in showing a Muslim the Chinese struction was in accordance undertaker business (1986). population in with the strong Chinese beliefs the Central in geomancy shophouses were populated pre- Area. The elevation of the early dominantly by Chinese resi- shophouses were rather low but dents (see Figs. 2 & 3). The Changing Morphology the sloping roofs gave the build- By the early 1970s, the of the Shophouse ing a much taller appearance (as population in the shophouses Other fundamental con- can be seen in some of the had declined considerably. A cepts of in- shophouses in Kampong Glam). study done by Yeh (1975:25) in- culcated in the early shop- These pitch or sloping roofs dicated that the number of houses were in the construction (which were mainly built of households in shophouses (in- of (a) courtyards; (b) exposure attap due to cheap, abundant cluding the floors of of the structural elements e.g. and easily available building shophouses) had dropped from the beams supporting the ceil- materials) were preferred be- 103,000 households in 1966 (i.e. ing; (c) the emphasis on the cause of the frequent rains in 31 per cent of the total house- roof; and (d) the use of colour Singapore. Gutters in the roof holds in Singapore) to 79,000 (Needham, 1971:65). were created to carry the rain (or 21 per cent) in 1970. The The internal courtyards water quickly down the steeply Chinese population which had or open air wells on a smaller sloping roofs to the eaves which reached the 1.5 million mark in scale were often incorporated in project far from the walls of the 1970 began to move to the sat- the shophouses because they buildings (Kohl, 1984:23). The ellite towns of the as a provided internal light and ven- early roofs, which followed the result of urban renewal and gov- tilation as well as facilitate the Chinese-style with round-ended ernment policies. Since 1966, collection of rain water which is gabled walls, had no ornamen- when the urban renewal equated with good luck (Yong, tation on them.

10 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 These attap roofs were built in Malay homes on three covered passage on each side of greatly susceptible to fires, and sides of the house to provide the street' (Buckley, 1984:84). they were soon replaced by tiled additional cooling services While shophouses prob- ones which were more fire-re- (Parkinson, 1955:40). They ably existed during the wood sistent. and attap phase of Singapore's Two problems, however, history, the current brick and surfaced with this change of mortar shophouses had its first building materials. Firstly, there prototype when John Turnbull was the problem of ventilation Thomson built the Ellenbor- because this type of tiled roof ough buildings for the Chinese did not have the same 'cooling towkay (tycoon) Tan Tock Seng effect' found in the attap roofs. (1778-1850) in 1840 (Teo & To relieve the heat in the house, Savage, 1991:322). The the Chinese came up with a new Ellenborough shophouses had innovation in the form of their all the fundamental aspects of jack-roof. This term refers to an shophouses built over the next elevated gabled or pyramidal Figure 4: Diagram Showing the Side century. They were 2-storey Elevation of a Jack-roof roof segment sheltering a clere- buildings with a covered pas- story opening which separates sageway. The buildings had it from the main roof. The dia- were later in- gram here shows the side eleva- corporated tion of the jack-roof in the local at the front shophouses (Fig. 4). of the shop- house to pro- The second problem was vide shelter due to the increased in weight from the fre- of the tiled roofs. Previously, quent and timber pillars were strong sudden rain- enough to support the attap storms as Figure 5: This architectural drawing of part of the Ellenborough roofs but with the tiled roofs, Buildings reflects the prototype of the architectural style of Chinese well as from stronger pillars were needed shophouses in Singapore. the hot sun- and the answer came in the light. These adaptations little embel- form of brick pillars. were later known as lishments The early Chinese shop- five-foot ways, and their adorning house was also influenced by prevalence in all the the front. the local Malay architectural tra- shophouses in Singa- Essentially, dition, and this can be seen in pore can be traced back the Ellen- the presence of the verandah on to the letter written by borough the local shophouses. The ve- Raffles to the Town Com- shophouses randah became a requirement mittee on 4 November were later, after the island's British 1822 in which he stipu- simple and administrators imposed an obli- lated that each (shop) very func- Figure 6: Early Shophouse Style gation on all future shophouses house must have an open tional build- to contain one. Verandahs were verandah 'to be open at ings (see tropical innovations, and were all times as a continued and Figs 5 & 6). It seems a shame

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 n that these shophouses stood the of the European architectural ders after an abeyance of a thou- test of time until very recently styles to the Singaporean sand years. These Classical when they were demolished in shophouses which were later Orders were later adapted and the 1990s to make way for the copied by subsequent archi- used in the designs of the subway (MRT) station. One tects. shophouses in Singapore. wonders why the authorities did The first trained architect Many important buildings (e.g. not save these historic build- in Singapore was George the Armenian Church) were ings, and integrate them as part Drumgoole Coleman who came designed by Coleman, and he of the facade of the subway sta- to the settlement in 1826 and did much to improve the town's tion. Ironically, after tearing was appointed Superintendent infrastructure. In short, he had them down, new facades or of Public Works, Overseer of a crucial part in shaping the paintings of these historic pro- Convict Labour and Land Sur- city's early skyline (Gretchen,

Figure 7: First Transitional Shophouse Figure 8: Second Transitional Figure 9: Late Shophouse Style: Style Shophouse Style Chinese Baroque totype buildings were built to veyor in 1832 (Buckley, 1984:18). evoke their memory. 1984:227). Coleman introduced By the late nineteenth cen- Western influence played the Palladian-style of architec- tury, western influence was an important part in the later ture to the Singaporean land- strongest in the facades of the architectural development of scape (Figs. 7 & 8). This High upper floors. The westerners the Chinese shophouses (i.e. Renaissance style of architec- introduced pomp and grandeur from 1845 to the 1920s). Two ture derived its name from into these facades with their European architects, G D Andre Palladio (1518-1580), a Greek and Roman motifs, Vene- Coleman (1826-1841) and J T Venetian architect who revived tian arches, rustication, fes- Thomson (1841-1853) were in- and reinterpreted the use of the toons, baroque foliage, consoles strumental in introducing many Greek and Roman Classical Or- and elaborate false fronts featur-

12 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 ing parapets, open balustrades The shophouse businesses photo studios and gold- and flamboyant facade gables Shophouses played a ver- smiths (Kohl, 1984:184). satile role in the early economic (b) wholesaling - those dealing This blending of the differ- development of Singapore. As with goods in large quanti- ent influences from the various trade and commerce flourished ties, e.g. scarp metal and cultures merged together to from the 1820s onwards, the import/export firms form a unique architectural economic activities of the (c) offices style known as the 'Singapore shophouses expanded to in- (d) storage Eclectic' (Seow, 1967) or 'Chi- clude functions such as cottage (e) cottage industry - these in- nese Baroque' (Parkinson, industries which were mainly clude light industries such 1955) and as a result, the labour-intensive (e.g. manufac- as manufacturing of gunny shophouses in Singapore (and turing of gunny sacks, religious sacks, religious products, Malaysia and South Thailand) products, biscuits, shoes, furniture making and others are quite distinct from those clothes, etc.), retailing, whole- shophouses found in other parts saling, offices, storage and ser- of (Fig. 9). vices such as teahouses, coffee shops, restaurants, lodging The Utility of Shophouses houses, stevedoring and so on. Generally, the shophouse Some of these early shops were has two basic functions - it owned by rich Chinese mer- serves economical as well as chants such as Tan Che Sang, residential purposes. The word Choa Chong Long, Yeo Kim 'shophouse' itself demonstrates Swi, Tan Tock Seng and Teo Lee explicitly this dual function: in the Chinatown area (Song, 'shop' (the economic dimen- 1967:25). sion) and a 'house' (the residen- tial function). Over the years, The various shophouse this dichotomy has not been businesses that are still found in Shophouse turned into slum-additional strictly observed and many most of the shophouses nowa- rooms/space added to the shophouse variants are dis- days include: (1980s). cernible. The shophouse can be Table 2: Types of functions of (f) services - those used solely for the shophouses dealing with food, residential pur- e.g. restaurants poses or solely for and coffee shops economic func- and other services tions such as re- tailing, warehous- such as tailoring, ing, storage and barber shops and offices. In the past beauty salons. as in the present, *others include shophouses which are used solely for the shophouse has residential purposes or for associations, gambling dens and so on. Table 2 gives a been used as Source: Kew (1985-86) breakdown of the brothels and dens broad types of func- for prostitution. Some shop- (a) retailing - those selling tions of the shophouses that houses are also used for asso- goods in small quantities di- were surveyed in 1985 by Kew ciations or guilds. rectly to customers, e.g. (1985/86).

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 13 Segregation of the differ- The residents and their ent ethnic groups into different occupations areas (e.g. the Chinese in The early residents of the Chinatown, and the Indians in shophouses were mainly the Little India) also brought about young, poor male immigrants various specialization of eco- from China (and India). The nomic activities in the shop- vast majority of them were houses. These occupational single and unmarried because specialization were not only ra- there were very few females in cially determined but extended the settlement in those days. to the dialect groups within each These residents include race as well. shophouse proprietors and their For instance, among the workers; labourers working in Chinese, the Hokkiens living in Clark Quay shophouses showing clothes the docks or construction sites; drying in the sun (1984). the shophouses around Amoy hawkers; rickshaw pullers; and Street, China Street, Telok Ayer other odd-job workers. Street and Street were Early Chinese proprietors mainly carpenters, odd-job houses in Temple, Pagoda and or shopkeepers in Singapore labourers, proprietors of retail Mosque streets; the Hainanese were from (e.g. Tan shops, wholesalers and mer- had their retail shops, coffee Che Sang, Si Hoo Keh and Choa chants; the Teochews who were shops and restaurants in Middle Chong Long); they had already vegetable wholesalers and Road, Purvis Street and Seah established themselves before hawkers concentrated their Street; and finally the black- coming over to Singapore, and businesses in North and South smiths' shops, shoe shops and many of them, in fact, owned the medicinal shops of the Hakkas shophouse in which they were were located mainly in staying. These shopkeepers Upper Chin Chew, Upper were very industrious, frugal Hokkien and Upper Cross and hard-working. They de- streets (Lloyd, 1984:8). manded a lot from their employ- The early Indians ees who also stayed with them. also concentrated their As the settlement became pro- activities such as money- gressively developed, many of lending in Market or richer and more established Chulia Street, and later merchants built terrace expanded their busi- shophouses for themselves in nesses to the Serangoon the suburbs, and rented out Road area. High Street their shophouse premises to Shophouse in Chinatown with Chinese was the area where the chief tenants who stayed and good-luck calligraphy writer (1980s). Sindhis, Gujeratis and worked there. Dr John Bertram Sikhs had their cloth and van Cuylenburg (1982:48) ob- Canal roads, Merchant Road, electronic shops; and the Indian served that in the 1920s, 'the River Valley Road and Carpen- Muslim traders were concen- Chinese bigwigs used to live ter Street; the had trated in Beach Road and Jalan about their premises in those their goldsmith shops, tailor Besar area (Siddique & Shotam, days, unlike their modern coun- shops, restaurants and tea- 1982:13). terparts who live, as the Euro-

14 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 peans do, on the outskirts of the one toilet, irrespective of the taps fixed to the wall and com- city'. number of households occupy- monly located in the airwell or This pattern has persisted ing that floor, and Kaye back yard. The 'bathroom' was right up to the present day in (1960:70) found that the toilet just an enclosed space with ei- which the majority of the was often a tiny cubicle built into ther a wall tap and tin bath or, shophouses within the Central the same verandah which often, only a tap (Kaye, 1960:84). Area are owned by absentee served as a kitchen. Frequently, Buchanan (1972:192) too, landlords. Whereas those pro- the 'kitchen' space was devoid shows the physical living condi- prietors (who rented the shop- of a sink, and operations such tions of the shophouse accom- houses), who once worked and as washing clothes or pots, and modation in 1966 as is depicted lived in the same shophouse, the cleaning of vegetables were in the following table. Kew's were quite common during the performed in bowls set beneath (1985/86) study of shophouses pre-war years, the situation has changed drastically during the past two decades. Table 3: The physical conditions of the shophouse, 1966

The living conditions The shophouses in China- town and its surrounding areas have frequently been depicted as slums with tales of squalor, extreme congestion and inhu- mane living conditions. These conditions which were in exist- ence since the late nineteenth century grew progressively worse after the war because the Table 4 gives an indication of the number of inhabitants in population kept increasing rap- the shophouses surveyed in mid-June 1985 (Kew, 1985/86). idly without an accompanying increase in housing. A third of the cubicles sur- veyed by Kaye (1960:56) in Table 4: Number of inhabitants-in the shophouses, 1985 Singapore had neither windows nor other external openings, and 87 per cent of the cubicles with windows merely had un- glazed openings with wooden shutters. Many households therefore lived in cramped, poorly ventilated conditions of almost permanent semi-dark- *Others include non-responses, those respondents who were not too sure ness. In Upper Nankin Street, of the numbers and those whose numbers of inhabitants vary frequently each floor of the shophouses there generally had only one kitchen, one bathing place, and

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 15 The covered five-foot way in the Ellenborough shophouses - with labourers resting between jobs in the Singapore river boats.

Chinese temple in the Clark Quay shophouses in the 1980s.

Shophouse in area with cot- tage industry - the making of spring roll 'skin' (wrappings) (1980s).

Renovated shophouses on (1998). in 1985 showed that there were defined in two different senses: Conserving the still many basic amenities which 'one is to pull down old buildings Shophouse were lacking in shophouses, and build new ones and the The shophouse has been and that many households (63 other is to renovate and rehabili- preserved in its original state at out of the 100 households sur- tate the existing building and times modestly and at other veyed) occupied one room or then put it into compatible use'. times with outlandish colour- less (see Table 3 on page 15). However, renovation of shop- ings, but it has become alive in houses is no easy task. Some- the landscape due to a combina- Urban Renewal: times it involves complying with tion of many factors: The Shophouse in Danger new building codes that would (a) The tourist impetus : land- As a result of rapid urban bring the costs of renovation of scape attractions. renewal over 25 years (1960- such dilapidated buildings to as (b) The government desire for 1985), the urban landscape of high as three times the cost of conserving some of them. Singapore has been drastically demolishing and rebuilding a (c) The 'yuppie' interest in altered. This urban change is whole new structure of the them for work sites or as especially evident in the new same design. Furthermore, home. towering skyline of the city at who is going to pay for all these (d) As investments. Given their , Shenton Way, the renovations? Property owners central location, freehold, 2- Golden Mile, North Bridge or tax payers? storey shophouses can fetch Road and People's Park. Need- Not all shophouses in up to S$3 million (Tan, June less to say, such urban develop- Singapore are so fortunate as to 2000). ment was done at the expense be spared from demolition. (e) Good central locations. of shophouses, and what is now Ninety shophouses in the area Most of the shophouses are left are isolated pockets of bordered by Serangoon Road, located in the Central Area shophouses in the Central Area. Kerbau Road, Buffalo Road and of Singapore, and if they are Town planners, architects, Belilios Lane have been affected conserved they make for government officials and bu- by the HDB clearance of land to very important key loca- reaucrats have often been di- be completed by the third or fi- tions for business and enter- vided over the issue of redevel- nal quarter of 1986 (The Sunday tainment activities. In Teo's opment of the remaining Times, 26 May 1985). There (1997-98) study of Little In- shophouses, especially in the were some unfavourable views dia, favourable customer Central Area. The government from the businessmen of this access and good location is faced with the unenviable task 'Little India' area which is a were the two main reasons of having to decide between the thriving area of shopping for for businesses operating two conflicting policies of con- Indian tourists and local Indians. in the conservation of servation (preserving the One complained that 'Little In- shophouses (see Table 5). shophouses) and development dia' will become 'Minute India' (f) Suitable establishments for (eradicating the shophouses for if the shophouses are cleared. restaurants, advertising high-rise office buildings and But on the other hand, the views agencies, antique or curio flats). from the residents were quite shops and boutique hotels. According to Mr Fan Kai favourable as most of them were About 5 per cent of total ho- Chang, the then Deputy Gen- quite glad at being resettled in tels comprise boutique ho- eral Manager of URA, the Urban HDB flats because of better liv- tels which are mainly run Redevelopment Authority ing conditions (The Straits from restored shophouses. (1983), 'redevelopment" can be Times, 11 June 1985). Three boutique hotels (The

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 17 Royal Peacock, The Inn of Table 5: Ranking of the importance of the reasons cited the Sixth Happiness; Regal Inn) are, for example, found in the red light area of Keong Siak Street in Chinatown. Given the large spaces within shophouses, these premises have been readily transformed into Source: Teo, 1997/98:36 boutique hotels by carving up space into rooms (e.g. Duxton Hotel) (see Fig. 10). of Chinese and Malay traditions; just completed a study of the The study by Chan Yin Peranakans are the descendants area. Many of the pre-war Meng (1996/97) of the of early Chinese settlers and shophouses in areas such as Duxton and Royal Peacock native in the Straits South Bridge Road, , boutique hotels show how Settlements which included and Smith each developer successfully Malaysia and Singapore; in the Street were given a facelift in converted old shophouses Malay language, the word May 1985 as part of the 'interim into the current boutique Peranakan means half-caste). facelift operation' (TTte Straits hotels (see Table 6). Some areas of Chinatown Times, 10 May 1985). Most of If not for the tourist dollar, have also been included in the these areas have already been Singapore's shophouse conser- conservation scheme of the acquired by the URA which vation might not have met with URA as recommended by the found quite a number of shop- the success it has to date. One Tourism Task Force that had houses still in fair structural con- of the first areas of shophouse conservation (August 1981) is the Emerald Hill Area in the Table 6: Comparison between the Duxton and Royal Peacock tourist belt of , covering an area of 9.58 hect- ares with 150 units of vernacu- lar shophouses. The whole area was zoned for residential pur- poses and the streetscape was enhanced by the planting of trees and decorative road sur- faces. On 1 June 1985, the Peranakan Place at the corner of Emerald Hill Road and Or- chard Road was officially opened. This 'museum-cum- handicraft centre' is geared to- wards reviving Peranakan cul- ture in the ornate Straits- born Chinese shophouses (Peranakan culture is a mixture

18 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 dition that needed only basic repairs to prevent them from deteriorating further (Fig. 11). However, the plans for restoring the more dilapidated shop- houses were still inconclusive although the Government has announced its decision to pre- serve Chinatown since Novem- ber 1984. The fire in Temple Street on 4 November 1985 in which nine people were killed, has incited the -Government to Figure 10: Cross sectional view of the hotel speed up their long term plans (The Straits Times, 5 November 1985). Another recent Govern- ment commitment (after three years of deliberation) for the preservation and redevelop- ment of shophouses are those along the Singapore River (The Straits Times, 7 September 1999). Stripped of its pictur- esque Chinese boats, this project came in the wake of a fear that the character and flavour of the area (bounded by River Valley Road, Hill Street, Collyer Quay, Cecil Street, Church Street, Upper Pickering Road, Havelock Road and Kim Seng Road) was in the danger of being lost forever if nothing is done about it. Ideas and rec- ommendations from the public reflect a desire to see this old centre of trade and enterprise turned into a place of entertain- Source: Historic Districts: Conservation Guidelines for Chinatown Conservation Area ment, shopping and watersport Figure 11: Key Elements of the Shophouse attraction without losing its charm and character. Central to and four-storey shophouses The Three 'R's the maintenance of the charac- along the riverfront (The Straits Given the frail conditions ter of the river landscape is the Times, 7 September 1999). of the shophouses in Singapore, preservation of the old three the authorities have been prac-

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 19 tising and giving out advice to Given that shophouses have land developers in shophouse become endangered building conservation based on the species in Singapore, the URA '3 R's principle: is making an all-out attempt to conserve shophouses that are (a) Maximum Retention. scattered in various areas of (b) Sensitive Restoration. Singapore. This Authority has Modern Chinatown, with skyscrapper (c) Careful Repair. laid down specific restoration in the background. guidelines for shophouse pres- ervation (see Table 7). Part of Table 7: Main Restoration Guidelines considered this conservation effort has in Conversion Process been carried out through the URA's major urban planning exercise as implemented under the Development Guide Plans (DGPs) for the new Master Plan. The nature of the DGPs planning specification for each of the 55 planning zones has helped tremendously to preserve old shophouses in the major zones. The zones covering Joo Chiat, Little India, Chinatown and Jalan Besar area certainly helped to ensure that the remaining shophouses in these areas were conserved. Indeed, the presence of old shophouses in these traditional ethnic-based zones evoke very much the character and identity of these places. Such commu- nities, living in these shop- houses, and the roads and spaces of the 'shops' have come alive with children playing, women chatting and families engaged in evening 'outings'. Yet, the question that plagues communities and heritage lovers is whether this Source: Historic Districts-Conservation Guidelines for Chinatown Conserva- grand exercise in shophouse tion Area. conservation is a misplaced

20 SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 effort. What the URA conser- Singapore: A Sociological Study vation's goals are all about is of Chinese Households Living in merely retaining and preserving References a Densely Populated Area, shophouse buildings. That is Annual Report of Singapore Singapore. (1946-1999), Singapore. Kew Oi Lan (1985/86), Pre-1945 fine, but it does not do justice to Buchanan, I (1972), Singapore in Shophouses in Singapore's the holistic context of shophouse Southeast Asia, . Changing Landscape, conservation. Buckley, C A (1984), An Anecdotal unpublished Academic Exercise, Shophouses were the History of Old Times in Department of Geography, heart and soul of Singapore's Singapore, Singapore. University of Singapore, Singapore. residential population for a Chan Yin Meng (1996/97), Conversion Khoo, C K (1980), Census of Population of Shophouses to Boutique Hotels, 1980, Singapore. century as well as the economic unpublished Project Dissertation, Kohl, D G (1984), Chinese Architecture arena in which businesses School of Building and Estate in the and unfolded. Unfortunately, while Management, National University Western Malaya: Temples, Kongsis shophouses have been of Singapore. and Houses, Kuala Lumpur. preserved in Chinatown, critics Cheng Dm Keak (1980), 'Socio-economic Lee Lap Pong (1992), Conservation have been appalled that the change and the Chinese Shophouses as Office Space, traditional shophouse sector in unpublished Project Dissertation, Chinese community there has Singapore', Proceedings of Second School of Building and Estate been eroded and evicted. What Symposium on 'Our Environment', Management, National we now see in Chinatown is an 14-16, 1979 in Hew Choy Sin, University of Singapore. Koh Lip Lin, Gan Leong Ming, empty shell of well-renovated Lim Koon Loon (1992), Office Buildings Lee Swee Yong, Sin Yoke Min and Conservation Shophouses - shophouses but without the and Koh Chor Jin (eds.), Factors Influencing Choice of traditional Chinese community Institute of Natural Sciences, Office Space, unpublished that gave life and spirit to it. Nanyang University. Project Dissertation, School of Insult is added to injury in Choe, AFC (1969), 'Urban renewal' in Building and Estate the recent attempts by the J B Ooi and H D Chiang (eds.), Management, National Singapore Tourism Board Modern Singapore, Singapore. University of Singapore. Goh Guek Choo, Pauline (1991), The (STB) to turn Chinatown Lloyd, RI (1984), Chinatown: Design and Restoration Process A Personal Portfolio, Singapore. into a tourism theme area. of Conservation Shophouses, Mak, J Y C (1974/75), Changes in The Singaporean Chinese unpublished Project Dissertation, the Central Area of Singapore, community sounded a deafening School of Building and Estate unpublished Academic Exercise, Management, National University disapproval of t h e STB proposal. Department of Geography, of Singapore. Private architects had proposed University of Singapore, Goh, K S ((1956), Urban Incomes and creating a 'Chinese atmosphere' Singapore. Housing: A Report on the Social Parkinson, C N (1955), 'Homes of but with architectural inputs Survey of Singapore, 1953-54, from China. The issue was Singapore. Malaya', Quarterly Journal of the Institute of Architecture of simple: Singapore's Chinatown Gretchen, M (1984), Pastel Portraits: Malaya, Vol. IV, No. 4. was defined by a vernacular Singapore's Architectural Heritage, Singapore. Seow, E J (1967), Architecture in architecture of shophouses, Malaya, M AThesis, Department and it seemed sacrilegious for Ho Tze Kim, Rena (1996-97), Conservation of Meaning and of Architecture, University of the STB to turn Singapore's Meaning of Conservation of Melbourne, Australia. historical Chinese centre into Shophouses in Singapore, Siddique, S & Shotam, N P (1982), Little some disneylike place a la unpublished Final Dissertation, India, Singapore. Chinese. School of Architecture, National Song, O S (1967), One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Photographs supplied by University of Singapore. Kaye, B (1960), Upper Nankin Street, Singapore, Singapore. Victor Savage

SPAFA Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 21 Sum Siok Chun (1984-85), Value Trends The Writer Singapore; of Residential Shophouse in Associate Professor Victor R * Deputy Director of the Singapore, unpublished Project Savage is currently the Head Centre for the Arts, National Dissertation, School of Building University of Singapore; and Estate Management, of the Department of National University of Singapore. Geography, Faculty of Arts * President of the Tan, Colin (2000), 'Shophouses up for and Social Sciences, National Commonwealth tender may fetch $23 million', University of Singapore. Geographical Bureau; The Straits Times Interactive: A Singaporean, he did his * President of the Fulbright Money, 23 June 2000. undergraduate Arts (Honours) Association, Singapore; Teo Li Ping, Shirley (1994), Viability of degree at the University of * a member of the Institute of Conservation Shophouses as Singapore; and obtained his Southeast Asian Studies Business Premises in the Little India, unpublished Project MA and PhD in geography Board of Trustees; Dissertation for B.Sc (Real from the University of * a member of the Singapore Estate), School of Building and California, Berkeley. History Museum Board; Estate Management, National He completed his MA and * an advisor for eduMall, a University of Singapore. PhD under the Fulbright joint venture between The Sunday Times, Singapore, several Hayes Scholarship. Paupac E Media and the issues. His research interest is mainly National Computer Systems The Straits Times, Singapore, several on Singapore and the issues. (NCS); Urban Renewal Authority (1997), Southeast Asian region - * Director of the Singapore Enhancing the Charms of historical and cultural Journal of Tropical Joo Chiat, Singapore. landscapes, sustainable Geography; URA Annual Report 1981/82, Singapore development and sustainable * a member of the Van Cuylenburg, J B (1982), Singapore urban development issues. International Advisory through Sunshine and Shadow, He was made a Fellowship Board of World Literatures Singapore. of the Indian Society for Vatsaloo, P P (1980/81), New Life Written in English; and for Pre-War Shophouses, Environment and Culture in * a Board member of the unpublished Academic Exercise, June 1995, and continues to Singapore Environmental Department of Architecture, work actively with the Hanns Council. National University of Seidel Foundation on Singapore, Singapore. environment - related issues The above article is an edited Yeh, S H K (ed.) (1975), Public Hous- in Malaysia, and version of a paper presented ing in Singapore, Singapore. Myanmar; and he is also: Yeo, Danny (1999), 'An attractive at the Seminar on Southeast investment', BT On Line, * Coordinator, Southeast Asian Traditional Architecture 15 September, 1999. Asian Studies Programme, held in , 24 to 30 July, Yong, K P (1966), 'Chinese buildings National University of 2000 in Malaya', PETA, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 1-12.

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