UEENSTOWN © National Library Board Alexandra Hospital Queenstown Public Library

U-shaped roof profile, Princess House Pre-cast blockwork sunscreen, Princess House

Inclined columns, Former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market and Food Centre Steel parabolic trusses, Former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market and Food Centre

Pre-cast blockwork sunscreen, Former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market and Food Centre

Princess House Former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market and Food Centre Metal railing, Former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market and Food Centre

QUEENSTOWN © National Library Board Alexandra Hospital Queenstown Public Library

Pre-cast concrete cross balustrade, Alexandra Hospital © National Library Board

Commemorative plaque, Queenstown Public Library Concrete pilasters, Alexandra Hospital © National Library Board

Rusticated wall, Alexandra Hospital Verandah, Alexandra Hospital 3-storey high pilasters with simple elegant capitals, Alexandra Hospital 'Bow-tie' motif, Queenstown Public Library Perimeter wall, Queenstown Public Library Concrete sunscreens, Queenstown Public Library

Fair-faced brick façade, Church of the Blessed Sacrament

Geometric entrance arrangement, 394 Alexandra Road

394 Alexandra Road

Church of the Blessed Sacrament

Main Sanctuary, Church of the Blessed Sacrament

Interior of a bungalow at Nepal Park

Commemorative plaque, Church of the Blessed Sacrament Former Anchor Brewery House Bungalow at Nepal Park Timber ventilation screen, 8 Rochester Park

The URA Centre 45 Maxwell Road Singapore 069118 Tel: (65) 6221 6666 Fax: (65) 6227 5069 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ura.gov.sg QUEENSTOWN

Introduction H The URA OL C LA O Y N D M D The public housing programme in Singapore had its beginnings in A A Conservation Programme M R O O W OA Rochester R N S D IE 1927 when the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was formed by the W NAP R 8 N R The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national planning Park TA E O IS A E AD V L E British colonial government. One of its missions was slum clearance T authority for Singapore. Its active involvement in conservation A H U N A Q and the subsequent re-housing of the affected residents. However, O V started as early as the 1970s with the rehabilitation of some state- U E B N owned properties for adaptive reuse. To-date, conservation status has hampered by the lack of a long-term overall vision, legislation and U E H Nepal T 8 been given to more than 100 conservation areas involving over 7000 funds, it hardly made headway. R Park O buildings throughout the island. N Queenstown D

1953 marked a turning point. A more generous system of government Public Library A

O Conservation of our built heritage is an integral part of urban planning

R loans and subsidies and a steady fall in the prices of materials, 1 AY and development in Singapore. Our historic areas add variety to ER R 2 N allowed the SIT to press ahead more vigorously with the re-housing AJ I A L our streetscapes and modulate the scale of our urban fabric. They H A Former Commonwealth programme. 1953 also saw the beginnings of Singapore’s first full- VE G AvenueWet Market N create visual contrast and excitement within the city while serving as Church of A

& Food Centre T

scale satellite town for public housing – Queenstown. This was named the Blessed 5 Q important reminders and representations of our collective past. They Sacrament U Princess firmly add to the distinctive character and identity of our country, after Queen Elizabeth II to mark her coronation that year. E House E N 3 giving us a sense of history and memory of place. A S ALEX Queenstown occupied a large swampy valley with two hills on either Y W ANDR E E A Former A RO R V Y AD A D More information on Singapore's built heritage can be found on side and a village settled mainly by Hokkien and Teochew residents. R N Anchor A A W O https://www.ura.gov.sg/conservationportal/consmap.html J DO Brewery R The village was a collection of attap-roofed huts with small farms. AH TS OR House A P R D E D Buller Camp, a British military barrack, was also located at Alexandra X 6 N A P A O D R X R Road. The camp site was cleared for the development of Queenstown E E A O SS Alexandra L R W A N A A Hospital housing estate, which was completed in May 1953. ST Y O I JALA S V 4 N B More information on Queenstown Heritage Trail can be found on UKI R A T M E N ER D A N In 1960, after self-governance was attained, the Housing & O H E U H B AY Development Board (HDB) was formed to replace the SIT, and the ER RAJ AH EXPR H ESS T W major part of Queenstown was developed between 1960 and 1965 as A U Y N O More heritage trails can be found on part of the HDB’s first Five Year Building Programme. S http://www.nhb.gov.sg/NHBPortal/Places/Trails

The planning strategy for Queenstown reflected the HDB’s policy 394 of providing a “Total Environment” in a high density new town for Alexandra Location Plan Road 7 the residents. A shopping centre was provided for each residential neighbourhood. A Town Centre with cinema, shops, restaurants, a night- club and other community facilities was built along Commonwealth Avenue, the main street of the new town. A sports complex was also The URA Centre 45 Maxwell Road Singapore 069118 Tel: (65) 6221 6666 Fax: (65) 6227 5069 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ura.gov.sg added later in late-1960s. By 1970, Queenstown had about 19,000 dwelling units housing more than 100,000 residents. © National Heritage Board As the new town undergoes redevelopment to house more people, some significant old buildings have been conserved as identity markers.

5 Church of the Blessed Sacrament 1 Commonwealth Drive

The church, designed by architect Y. G. Dowsett, was officially opened in 1965, complementing Queenstown's growth as Singapore's first satellite town. Its most iconic feature is the dramatically structured slate roof with folds looking like a tent to symbolise the “tent of meeting” in the Old Testament of the Bible. The three main entrances have multi-coloured glass ventilation panels which are remarkably vibrant when viewed from the inside. Visitors and residents also fondly refer to the building as the “origami church” at Queensway.

A map from 1957 showing the public housing in Queenstown

A photo from the 1970s showing the aerial view of Queenstown

1 Queenstown Public Library 2 Former Commonwealth Avenue 6 Former Anchor Brewery House 53 Margaret Drive Wet Market & Food Centre 368 Alexandra Road The Queenstown Public Library was Singapore’s first branch library. It was officially opened on 30 April 1970 by 38 Commonwealth Avenue This was the brewmaster's office for Singapore’s first commercial brewery, the Archipelago Brewery Company. then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Planning for the library had started four years earlier by librarians and The former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market & Food Centre, built in 1956, is a rare building, being the The brewery was started by German businessmen in 1931 and Anchor Beer was one of its most famous labels. architects from the Public Works Department. The result was a library designed on a modular principle that allowed only remaining market in Singapore built by the SIT. Before the establishment of wet markets, fresh produce The site, located near the Malayan Railway line, provided convenient transportation for the import of ingredients the librarians to customise internal spaces for changing uses. The exterior has unusual elegant ‘bow-tie’ fascias on its and cooked food were purchased from itinerant hawkers. Conditions were invariably unsanitary. The situation and the export of its beer. The prominent two-storey building of crisp early ‘Arts & Craft’ style of the 1920s and concrete frame structure. improved as purpose-built covered markets and food centres were established in the public housing estates as 1930s, has been adapted for commercial use. hygienic and convenient amenities for residents. This market was one of the first such buildings to be built and is a precursor to the wet markets and hawker centres in all New Towns today. It has pre-cast curved concrete beams. Above the second storey is its most striking feature of a bold parabolic-vaulted metal sheet roof on steel frames.

This branch library 3 Princess House 7 394 Alexandra Road “ in Queenstown is a 332 Alexandra Road Perched on a low hill off Alexandra milestone in our rising Princess House was built in the mid- Road, this large two-storey detached standards of life.

© National Library Board 1950s by the SIT and became the first building was built to accommodate We shall have similar headquarters for the HDB in 1960. the staff of the former Federated branch libraries in It played a key role in shaping the Malayan States Railway, later known every major area post-war development of Singapore. as the Malayan Railway. Designed like Toa Payoh, It was here where renewal plans were in the ‘Arts & Crafts’ style, it has a Katong, Jurong and drawn up and displayed, and, notably, steeply-pitched tile roof and gable Singaporeans visited to apply for their walls. The asymmetrical arrangement Woodlands. first HDB flats. It also hosted various of architectural features and band of ” foreign dignitaries who came to learn brick skirting around the base gives an about Singapore’s social housing impression of a 1930s country cottage. Mr Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime programme, which was internationally Minister, at the opening of the Queenstown Public Library on recognised as a success. 30 April 1970.

4 Alexandra Hospital 8 Rochester & Nepal Park 378 Alexandra Road Rochester Park and Nepal Park were developed by the British Army in the late-1930s within the greater British The Alexandra Hospital was built by the British Army in 1938 as preparation for the impending war with Japan. Military Area (Alexandra) to house officers and their families serving in Singapore, then the most important The original hospital complex has five linked buildings designed in simplified neo-Classical style typical of British military base east of the Suez Canal. Rochester Park was named after a port town on the Thames estuary. local military buildings of the 1930s. There is extensive use of pre-cast concrete for vents and balustrades. It Nepal Park was named in recognition of the British Crown’s ties with the sovereign country of Nepal, homeland serves as a reminder of Singapore’s role as an important military base for the British Empire, the tragedy of of the famed Gurkhas. The Gurkha Regiments in Singapore, led by British officers, were stationed in Slim WW2, and finally, the growth and provision of quality public healthcare after Singapore attained independence. Barracks at the foot of the hill. © National Library Board

Designed and produced by the Urban Redevelopment Authority for the Queenstown Library's 45th Anniversary, in partnership with