Exploring Kallang , A trip Down Memory Lane

#1 Kallang Gasworks Holder Structure

What you see here isn’t the original Kallang Gasworks building, which was demolished. This structure is the supporting pillars and girders of Gasholder No. 3 from the plant, which supported a gas tank

The original building operated from 1862 to 23 March 1998 at a site bounded by Kallang Road, Crawford Street, Kampong Bugis and Rochor River. The gasworks was the first site in Singapore dedicated to the manufacturing of gas from coal. At the time, it was also the largest gas works in Southeast Asia. Originally built to supply piped gas for street lighting on the island, it began supplying piped gas in the 1960s and 1970s to housing developments as fuel for cooking and water heating.

Residents of the area could see the flames from the burning of waste gas from the Gasworks’ discharge chimney stack throughout the day. It was this that gave Kallang the nickname of Fire City, or Huay Sia in Hokkien.

#2 Jalan Besar Stadium

Originally called Jalan Besar Stadium, this Singapore landmark was officially opened on Boxing Day in 1929. Since then, it has hosted many football events, including Malaysia Cup tournaments from 1967 to 1973, and was the training ground for Singapore’s most famous professional footballer, Fandi Ahmad. The Football Association of Singapore has its headquarters at the stadium and it’s currently the home ground of Young Lions, a Singapore Premier League club. The stadium is also used by the Singapore national football team as an alternative home ground to the National Stadium.

During the Japanese Occupation, the stadium was used as a mass screening site during the events of the Sook Ching massacre. It remained open during the war and was also used as a language centre where locals were taught the Japanese language. After the war, the stadium has hosted major events including the National Day Parade in 1984. 

In December 1999, it was closed for rebuilding and opened in June 2003 with an increased seating capacity. Until today, the pitch continues to hold football tournaments and friendly matches for local and international teams.

#3 Conservation shophouses – Petain Road, 161 Lavender Street

It’s hard to miss the row of shophouses on Petain Road – their striking colours and patterns make them stand out from their surroundings. The 18 even-numbered 

Double-storey terrace houses were designed in the Chinese Baroque-style with neo-classical features and the facade is decorated in ornate floral ceramic tiles and plaster reliefs of exotic birds.

Built in the early 1930s, the interesting mix of European and Peranakan styles of these shophouses have been well preserved. This design is not found elsewhere in the world, except Malaysia and Singapore.

Petain Road has its own controversial history. It was named in 1928 after Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain (1856-1951), the Marshal of France who commanded the French Army that won the Battle of Verdun during the First World War. After the war, Pétain became the Prime Minister of France but allowed the country to be relegated into a puppy state. For this, he was convicted of treason and given life imprisonment.

The district was also known as a red light district in the 1930s, where secret societies, smuggling, extortion and brothels all came together in and around the shophouses of Petain Road.

The shophouses were earmarked for conservation in 1981.

A short walk from Petain Road is 161 Lavender Road, another conservation site of 11 four-storey shophouses. Tiled and plastered in the Art Deco style, it won a URA Architectural Heritage Award in 1995.

This was the original premises of the Lee Rubber Company, owned by rubber tycoon Lee Kong Chian. He was a supporter of Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Nationalist cause, which explains the plaster reliefs of soldiers carrying the Nationalist flag of the Republic of China on one pediment’s corner facade. 

#4 Former Kallang Airport Building

This building stands within the site that was Singapore’s first purpose-built civil airport. It was opened on 12 June 1937 and ceased operations following the opening of Paya Lebar Airport in 1955. The airport building continued to be used by various groups – Singapore Youth Sports Council, People’s Association (PA), Public Works Department (PWD), Central Manpower Base (CMPB) – until it was gazetted on 5 December 2008 for conservation. In 2011, it was one of the main venues for the Singapore Biennale. 

The design of the building displays modern architectural and international style with its exposed concrete, transparent glazed walls and streamlined curves. The design has been accredited to the Chief of Architect of the former Public Works Department, Frank Dorrinton Ward.

There are plans to transform the entire Kallang Airport area into a commercial hub in the future.

#5 Gay World Park

The only indication today of Gay World Park’s existence is Gay World Hotel – located in a row of converted double-storey shophouses, it stands across the road from where the amusement park was once located.

Standing between Mountbatten and Geylang Roads, Gay World Park began as Happy World on 6 May 1937. Built by George Lee Geok Eng, the brother of Lee Kong Chian, it was renamed in 1966 when Eng Wah Organisation took over the lease. 

Great World was one of three amusement parks that provided Singaporeans with entertainment in the form of cabaret performances, Chinese and Malay operas, movies, sporting matches, circus, a mini golf course, a covered stadium (purportedly the first in Malaya), a restaurant with a rooftop garden and 200 games, food and retail stalls. 

During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, the Japanese converted it into a technical school where 14 to 19 year olds could receive a year’s training in courses including aviation, engineering and mechanics. After the war, business at Happy World boomed but its popularity started to wane in the 1950’s with the introduction of radio and later, television. By the 1980’s, amusement parks were considered outdated as people flocked instead to shopping malls, game arcades and newly built cineplexes.

Throughout the years, fires would ravage Gay World. Eng Wah Organisation terminated the lease in 2000 as the site had been slated for residential development. The park was finally demolished in 2001, making it the last of the three Worlds in Singapore to go.