www.shaproperty.com

Oct 2, 2007

Over 200 more buildings in Katong area may be conserved

By Tan Hui Yee

THE rich heritage of Katong and Joo Chiat district will get more protection from the wrecking ball with a further 228 buildings earmarked for conservation status.

The buildings include landmarks such as St Hilda's Church, the Bethesda (Katong) Church and the former Grand Hotel in Still Road South.

Three bungalows - in Marine Parade Road, Chapel Road and Joo Chiat Road - have also been selected.

The buildings were selected to serve as markers of the area's heritage.

St Hilda's Church, for example, was built in 1949 and is designed in a simple English parish church style while the former Grand Hotel building was built in 1917 in the ornamented Victorian style with a slight Indian influence.

There are already about 700 buildings under conservation orders in the East Coast area, traditional home of Singapore's Eurasian and Peranakan communities and a haven for food-lovers.

The plan was announced by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday at the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Architectural Heritage Awards ceremony.

The URA has told the building owners about the conservation plan. Its final decision will be made after feedback.

Conservation orders mean owners cannot demolish the building or make major alterations to structures or facades.

But the URA noted that most can be redeveloped to their full economic potential even if conserved.

One owner, Ms Lyn Lee, 34, wants the certainty a conservation order would bring. Ms Lee, who owns the Awfully Chocolate cakeshop chain, lives in a pre-war, three-storey shophouse in Tembeling Road, one of a row of 10 houses.

She and her husband bought the ageing freehold property for $880,000 six years ago and have spent about $500,000 renovating it into a home for themselves and their three children. They do not intend to move.

'It's very important that someday, somebody won't come and mow down three houses and build a pink-tiled monstrosity,' she said.

Some of her neighbours are considering upgrading the neighbourhood if it is eventually conserved.

The 228 buildings proposed for conservation were chosen from about 1,000 buildings in the area that are more than 30 years old. More than 6,500 buildings have been conserved in Singapore.

The announcement was bittersweet for interest group Historic Architecture Rescue Plan, which has been lobbying the Government to conserve various properties in the district.

One - a 95-year-old Amber Road bungalow - could only be partly conserved. Earlier this year, its developer agreed to build a hybrid apartment block incorporating some elements of the old building, but it plans to tear down its much vaunted crescent-shaped section.

Mr Mah told the ceremony guests that Singapore had to strike a constant balance between redevelopment and conservation.

Six projects were singled out in the URA awards yesterday for sensitive or innovative restoration work, including the National Museum and Chek Jawa Visitor Centre in Pulau Ubin.

Mr Mah also announced the URA would be enhancing various districts next year. These include a 4.9km waterfront promenade from Punggol Point to Sungei Serangoon and a coastal promenade in Woodlands.

It will also improve roadside infrastructure in Siglap and Upper Serangoon Road.

tanhy@sph.com.sg

For more on the plans for Katong, Joo Chiat and Punggol, click for our free video news

Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access