Katong was the location of many villas and mansions of the wealthy elite in the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. They made their fortunes in the Far East and built seaside resorts, villas and manors along the beachfront of Katong, beginning from Katong Park to the end of the East Coast.
Katong's rich cultural mix has contributed to its unique cuisine. Katong is well known among locals as a food district with a variety of shophouse restaurants serving Peranakan cuisine and particularly, a spicy Singaporean noodle soup known as Katong laksa. Its famous icons include Joo Chiat Road's "food street", Dunman food center, Koon Seng Road & Everitt Road's Peranakan conservation house, Eurasian Heritage Gallery.[citation needed]
Etymology
Tanjong Katong derived from the popular beach shoreline along the East Coast. In Malay, Tanjong means cape whilst Katong refers to a now extinct species of turtles as well as "the effect of a sea mirage" when looking at the shoreline. [1] This coastal feature was located near the present Tanjong Katong Flyover across East Coast Parkway and has since disappeared due to land reclamation.[citation needed]
History
A watercolour painting of Katong facing the sea during the 1870s by John Edmund Taylor
The Katong district is known for its unique laksa dish
Katong Square's Conservation Building – currently tenanted by a Starbucks
Shophouses at Katong
In 1822, Sir Stamford Raffles designated a plot of land between the tip of Sandy Point (present day Tanjong Rhu) and Deep Water Point (present day Tanjong Katong) as a shipyard. In order to expedite the growth of the shipping industry, the Chinese settlers living there were given compensation for moving out. By the 1860s, the ship yards were flourishing.[1]
Many wealthy Chinese, English, Portuguese, Jewish, and Anglo-French settlers bought parcels of land in Katong beside the sea to cultivate plantations, and built business empires from trading in commodities such as cotton, coconut and gambier. One of them is the Wee family where Thiam Siew Avenue is named after them, now being The Continuum Condo.[2] Many of these plantations can be seen along Grove Road (now Mountbatten Road). In fact, one such plantation was the Grove Estate, a coconut plantation owned by Thomas Dunman, Singapore's first commissioner of police.[1]
Katong developed from a weekend seaside retreat into a home for the wealthy, who built immense colonial seaside bungalows away from the hustle and bustle of town life. The wealthy suburb stretched along Meyer Road and Mountbatten Road from Katong Park to Tanjong Katong. By 1928 Katong had grown to the extent that the Inspector-General of the Singapore Police Force H. Fairburn remarked: "The development of the area from Katong to Joo Chiat, which has been so rapid in the past two years, promises to continue, and from every point of view one sees the necessity of providing for a sub-divisional station in the suburb. The suburb at present possess no police station." From then on Katong encroached into Joo Chiat area from Tanjong Katong to Telok Kurau Road. East Coast Road (now divided into East Coast Road and Upper East Coast Road) had many upper-class family homes.
The present Katong area stretches from Mountbatten Road, East Coast Road to Siglap. The Joo Chiat area of Katong was formerly an ethnic enclave of Eurasians fleeing congestion, pollution, and overcrowding in Singapore after the Great Depression.
Kampong Amber
In the early twentieth century, Kampong Amber, a Malay fishing village between East Coast Road and Amber Road, was a prominent landmark in the coastal area of Katong.[3][4] The village was named after the adjacent Amber Road, which was in turn named after the clan name of Joseph Aaron Elias, a prominent property owner in early-20th-century Singapore.[5]
The inhabitants of Kampong Amber were mostly Malay fishermen, who lived in thatched timber houses on stilts, irregularly clustered into a porous urban fabric.[6] Between these houses were many large communal spaces, where the inhabitants spent much of their time, engaging in activities such as plucking beansprout, pounding chili paste, and talking to their neighbors.[7] Since the salty soil was unfriendly to agriculture, the villagers largely depended on the ocean for their livelihoods.[7]
Just across Amber Road were the beachfront bungalows of wealthy Peranakan businessmen, notably Lee Choon Guan and his wife, who owned the land which Kampong Amber sits on.[8][9][10] Mr and Mrs Lee allowed the villagers to live in Kampong Amber rent-free; as a show of appreciation, the villagers held an annual parade on Mrs Lee's birthday.[11]
As part of the 1971 Concept Plan, land reclamation along the East Coast was carried out between 1963 and 1985.[9] This reclaimed land transformed the swampy coastline with its foul smells into a scenic vista of white sandy beaches, and made it a desirable location for high-end residential developments;[7] at the same time, the reclaimed land and increased motor vehicle traffic on the road combined to separate the villagers of Kampong Amber from the ocean on which they depended.
As Singapore continued to industrialise through the 1970s, Kampong Amber was among the kampongs destroyed to make room for economic developments: first four- to eight-storey residential buildings, then high-rise flats.[8][9][12] The occupants were relocated to newly-built, government-subsidised flats.[7][13] In a 2003 master plan, the land was parcelled out for further development.[7]
A few remnants of earlier Kampong Amber survived the process of industrialization. The iconic car porch of the Butterfly House, a beachfront bungalow built in 1912 by Regent A. J. Bidwell, was incorporated into a new 18-storey condo.[14][15][16] Another surviving early Kampong Amber landmark is the Chinese Swimming Club, founded in 1909 and moved to a permanent site at Amber Road in 1921.[17] Originally a Chinese response to the European-only Singapore Swimming-club founded by the British in 1894,[18] the Chinese Swimming Club was sponsored by wealthy philanthropist Lee Choon Guan.[19] The club went on to become a social gathering place, a training location for many world-class athletes,[20][21] and a prominent local landmark that drew visits from figures including Prime MinisterLee Kuan Yew, PresidentWee Kim Wee, and President Tony Tan Keng Yam.[18] Today, the club extends membership to non-Chinese residents.
Highlights
The area is traditionally associated with the Eurasian and Peranakan community. However, many high-rise apartment blocks now stand alongside the traditional shophouses and Peranakan terrace houses. In 1993, the Joo Chiat neighbourhood which comprises the historical centre of Katong, with its uniquely Singaporean architecture mixing Chinese, Peranakan and English colonial styles, was designated a national heritage conservation area by the Singapore Government. The conservation area consists of many shop houses which are refurnished into cafes as well as specialty shops.
Marine Parade is a planning area and residential estate located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore. Straddling the tip of the southeastern coast of Pulau Ujong, Marine Parade serves as a buffer between the Central and East regions of the country. Bordering it are the planning areas of Geylang to the north, Kallang to the northwest, Bedok to the northeast, Marina East to the southwest and the Singapore Straits to the south.
Kallang is a planning area and residential zone located in the Central Region of Singapore.
Chinatown is a subzone and ethnic enclave located within the Outram district in the Central Area of Singapore. Featuring distinctly Chinese cultural elements, Chinatown has had a historically concentrated ethnic Chinese population.
Tanjong Pagar is a historic district located within the Central Business District of Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's urban planning zones. The district has a rich history and is known for its cultural and architectural landmarks, making it a popular tourist destination.
Kampong Glam is a neighbourhood and ethnic enclave in Singapore. It is located north of the Singapore River, in the planning area of Rochor, known as the Malay-Muslim quarter.
Siglap is a neighbourhood located south-west of Bedok in the East Region of Singapore. The area encompasses the Frankel and Opera Estates and their names have sometimes been used interchangeably to refer to the approximate same area. The planning subzone area of Siglap, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), is confusingly and inaccurately referred to as the small strip of land between Victoria Junior College and Bedok South Avenue 1.
Tanjong Rhu, is a subzone within the planning area of Kallang, Singapore, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). The perimeter of Tanjong Rhu is made up of Nicoll Highway in the north; Mountbatten Road and Fort Road in the east; East Coast Parkway (ECP) in the south; as well as Marina Channel and Kallang Basin in the west. Tanjong Rhu is the largest in terms of physical area among the nine subzones that make up Kallang.
Joo Chiat Road is a road in Joo Chiat District and a residential conservation area located in the east coast of Singapore.
Neil Road is a one-way road in Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar in the planning areas of Outram and Bukit Merah in Singapore. The road starts at the junction of South Bridge Road, Maxwell Road and Tanjong Pagar Road and ends at Kampong Bahru Road which then merges into Jalan Bukit Merah. At the end of the road, it is a conservation area of several shophouses and a three-story Victorian style school building, which was the former site of Fairfield Methodist Girls' School. In the Tanjong Pagar area of the road, it is home to rows of conserved shophouses for various purposes.
Duxton Hill is a small hill, as well as the name of a road, located in Tanjong Pagar in the Downtown Core district of Singapore.
Gan Eng Seng was a Chinese businessman and philanthropist who was one of the early pioneers of Singapore. He is known for his generosity to many charitable causes in Malaya and Singapore during the British colonial era. Some of his most recognised contributions were the setting up of Gan Eng Seng School, the Thong Chai Medical Institution, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and the Ee Hoe Hean Club.
Mountbatten is a neighbourhood located in the planning area of Marine Parade, Singapore.
Katong Park MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Thomson–East Coast line (TEL). Situated along Meyer Road and adjacent to Katong Park, the station serves Dunman High School and Singapore Swimming School alongside nearby residential developments. The station is operated by SMRT Trains.
Tanjong Katong MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Thomson–East Coast Line (TEL) in Singapore. Located underneath Amber Road at the intersection with Tanjong Katong Road South and Meyer Road, the station serves nearby condominiums such as Aalto and King's Mansion. The station is operated by SMRT Trains.
Marine Parade MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Thomson–East Coast line (TEL) in Marine Parade, Singapore. Located underneath Marine Parade Road, the station serves nearby residential and commercial developments including Parkway Parade, Roxy Square and I12 Katong.
East Coast Road is a two-way road in Marine Parade, Singapore. As its name suggests, the road used to run along Singapore's southeastern coastline before extensive land reclamation shifted the coastline southwards. The road starts in the west as Mountbatten Road, then continues eastwards - after the Haig Road and Amber Road junction - as East Coast Road. Moving further eastwards, the road continues as Upper East Coast Road before making a turn northwards to continue as Bedok Road.
Sino-Portuguese architecture, also known as Chinese Baroque,Straits/Singapore Eclectic architecture or Peranakan architecture is an Asian hybrid style incorporating elements of both Chinese and Portuguese architectural styles. It is common in urban centers where Chinese settlers lived in southern China and the Peranakans of the Malay Peninsula, with examples found and most prominently conserved and maintained in Singapore.
Katong Park is neighborhood park located in Katong, Singapore at the junction of Meyer Road and Fort Road. Built in the 1930s above the buried remains of Fort Tanjong Katong, it was one of Singapore’s oldest parks with the first public bathing pagar and was highly popular with families during the weekends. After the coastal reclamation works in the 1970s, the park lost its sea frontage and declined greatly in popularity. It now remains as a small community park serving nearby residents.
1 2 3 Low, Eunice. Life in Katong. Singapore: National Library Board, 2002. (Call no.: RSING 959.57 LIF)
↑ Lee, Peter. Rumah baba: Life in a Peranakan house. Singapore: National Heritage Board, 1998. p. 25. (Call no.: RSING 305.89510595 LEE)
↑ Lee, Kip Lin., and Gretchen Liu. The Singapore house, 1819–1942. Singapore: Times Editions [for] Preservation of Monuments Board, 1988. p. 193. (Call no.: RSING 728.095957 LEE)
↑ Lily, Kong (2001). Joo Chiat: A Living Legacy. Singapore: Joo Chiat Citizen's Consultative Committee.
↑ Kong, Lily, and T. C. Chang. Joo Chiat: a living legacy. Singapore: Joo Chiat Citizens' Consultative Committee in association with National Archives of Singapore, 2001. pp. 37, 111. (Call no.: RSING 959.57 KON)
1 2 Singapore Chinese Swimming Club: 88 years and beyond . Singapore: Singapore Chinese Swimming Club, 1998. pp. 20, 22–36. (Call no.: RSING 797.200605957 SIN)
↑ Singapore Chinese Swimming Club: 88 years and beyond. Singapore: Singapore Chinese Swimming Club, 1998. pp. 20, 22–36. (Call no.: RSING 797.200605957 SIN)
↑ Singapore Chinese Swimming Club. (1998). Singapore Chinese Swimming Club: 88 years and beyond. Singapore: Singapore Chinese Swimming Club. pp. 116–125. (Call no.: RSING 797.200605957 SIN); $45m facelift for Chinese Swimming Club. (24 January 2002). The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
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