Teo Hong and Bukit Pasoh Roads, Clan Associations Galore

Bukit Pasoh begins at Neil Road and splits into two at its opposite end. Bukit Pasoh is lined with conserved houses and a high end boutique hotel known as the New Majestic Hotel.

New Majectic Hotel 1 New Majectic Hotel 2The road is named after pasohs, or Ali Baba Jars, which filled the street and the surrounding district in the 19th century. At that time, significant portions of the neighbouring Bukit Merah, Silat and Telok Blangah districts housed these kilns. In the 1930s, a part of Bukit Merah was renamed Brickworks because of it, there was even a political constituency called Brickworks created in 1976 and in existence until 1997.

Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 1The bukit part of the road comes from another unknown fact in history, the road used to be a hill, that marked the Western edge of Singapore in 1830s. The hill was renamed four times, most notably as Duxton Hill from 1827 to 1836. Today the word Duxton remains in the area with a whole district named Duxton, including a park and public housing project.

It houses many different styles of architecture from the early straits eclectic style of the 1890s through the late straits eclectic style (1910-1930), art deco style (1930-1960) and early modern style (1957-1970). Here is a sampling of some of these buildings.

Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 2 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 3 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 4 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 5 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 6 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 7 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 8 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 9As you go up road, Bukit Pasoh splits into two. The new road to appear is the Teo Hong Road. It was named after Teo Hong, a carpenter from the Nan’an district in Fujian, China. He was a top notch building contractor (his job after he arrived) and counted The Fullteron Hotel and the Old Ministry of Labour Building as his projects. He also owned large plots of land in Jurong for pineapple plantations, which he donated to his clansmen for educational purposes.

Unique about this place are the number of clan association buildings. Clan Associations were important in the past when new arrivals berthed on these shores with no one to help them. Most of these buildings have since taken on different roles such as a cafe in the former Gan Clan Association, but the external facade remains the same.

Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 10 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 11 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 12 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 13 Bukit Pasoh, Teo Hong 14Its a short walk but a thoroughly fascinating one. The architecture is very much Chinese, which makes sense since this place is near Chinatown.

For peranakan archtecture, you can either go to the Blair Plains, or Katong and East Coast. For Malay culture try the Kampong Glam district, for Indian archtecture, look to Little India and for Jewish archtiecture, Selegie Road is rich in them.

W hen you are thirsty, just walk into any of the nearby cafes for a coffee.

How to get there

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