Authority Redevelopment Urban whom Dhoby Ghaut was named; the Teochew community who resided in Orchard’s own kampong, Kampong Teochew and the Peranakans at Emerald Hill.
While the trail itself will prove
fascinating, the research which went into it was even more intriguing. As part of its research, NHB gathered personal memories and photographs from former and current residents and regular visitors of the area. An open call was conducted through Facebook, which attracted stories and memories from Singaporeans from all walks of life. These accounts reveal little-known stories of spaces, such as fruit orchard that used to exist next to the Thai Embassy, the old wet market between Koek Road and Cuppage Road, and insights into the everyday lives of the Peranakan community on Emerald Hill from the mid-1990s.
Cuppage Terrace. Emerald Hill.
Board Goodwood Park Hotel09 Heritage The Heeren.
NHB also worked with students from Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Interactive Digital Media to produce animated clips about the heritage of the Orchard area, from youth’s perspective. These clips will be featured on NHB’s heritage portal Roots.sg as part of the Orchard Heritage Trails digital offerings.
Mr. Alvin Tan, Assistant Chief Executive (Policy Community) said: “Through our latest trail, NHB hopes to showcase the Orchard area’s history and diversify its attractions by highlighting that Orchard is more than just place where ‘you shop till you drop’ In doing so, we hope that locals and tourists alike will enjoy the ‘hidden stories’ of Orchard, explore its historical landmarks, and reacquaint themselves with the area’s often overlooked heritage gems.”
For the trail, NHB has launched three thematic routes for easy exploration of its history, people and green spaces.
“Orchard Road’s Historical Gems” (40 minutes on foot, 30 minutes on foot and bus) brings visitors around the historical landmarks along Orchard Road. It presents the legacies of the communities who lived and worked at the area long before it became street known for its shopping malls.
Some sites include widely recognised buildings such as Singapore’s first department store Tang, Goodwood Park Hotel, which is National Monument that was built in 1900 as German social club, and The Heeren, site of the former mixed-use Heeren Building. “Communities and Cemeteries” hour 15 minutes on foot) explores places of worship, schools, homes, community organisations and cemeteries. This route includes the only mosque on Orchard Road Masjid Al-Falah, as well as Sian Teck Tng, century-old Buddhist temple and former women’s home. “From Orchard to Garden” hours on foot, hour 30 minutes on foot and bus) is designed for NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2018 tS
Authority Redevelopment Urban nature lovers. This route takes visitors to the various green spaces that exist or used to exist within the and Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Singapore Botanic Gardens
Visitors can download the Orchard Heritage Trail
companion guide and map (the latter is available in four languages English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil) from Roots.sg. Printed copies of these will also be available at NHB museums and heritage institutions, as well as the
Singapore Visitor Centre at Orchard Gateway.
Source: MUHIBAH, the Royal Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine, 2018 Nov-Dec, pages 37-39. Text recovered from the scanned page by OCR and lightly corrected; spelling may differ from the printed edition.
