So when I arrived I was surprised to find myself immersed in history.
The template was simple.
Out front were covered verandas called “five foot ways,” open-ended to create shaded colonnades.
Jimmy Seah’s residence, center, on Spottiswoode Park Road, has Singapore’s oldest frescoed shop-house façade.Darren Soh
The same cannot be said for others around the corner.
Shop-houses are records of Singapore’s multicultural history.
They brought their architectural tastes with them, and left their mark on the shop-houses they inhabited.
From left: 28 Blair Road, a shop-house turned into a co-living space; a “five foot way” veranda on Petain Road.Darren Soh
It is also true that much of the urban sprawl has the flavorless internationalism of an airport terminal.
Seah bought his house in 2009, and at first glance it struck him as unprepossessing.
Low and plain, it had broken shutters, a moldering white facade, and a collapsed roof.
Shop-houses along Singapore’s Petain Road.Darren Soh
The fresco dated from the 1860s.
Seah’s family was crammed into a warren of tiny rooms.
The roof leaked constantly, and he sometimes repaired the damage by fashioning makeshift guttering out of shuttlecock canisters.
An aerial view of Chinatown.Darren Soh
“My sisters and I used to complain,” he said.
“Why do we have to live in this crappy old house?”
“Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore, had a great vision,” Seah said.
“You have to give people a roof over their heads before you might think of other things.”
The contemporary confection that had grown in its place felt to him like Disneyland.
Around the corner from Seah’s place is one of the most spectacular beneficiaries of this preservationist trend.
The Baba House is a restored shop-house that now operates as a museum.
It was built in the 1880s by the Wee family, who had made a fortune in shipping.
There are few places in Singapore that exemplify the shop-house boom better than Keong Saik Road.
Until the late 1990s this neighborhood was a red-light district.
KeSa House, like Manchharam’s other hotels, is an exercise in dramatic reinvention.
But the interior has been transformed into a minimal, contemporary spaceall pale wood and polished concrete.
Bauhaus and Brutalist examples can be found elsewhere in the area.
Shop-houses have always changed with the times and reflected architectural fashion.
I met him at 28 Blair Road, once his childhood home and now his company’s latest project.
That is where the old world ends.
A little like Singapore itself.
Its 60 compact rooms have bright, contemporary interiors; some have private roof terraces.
With space for about 15 guests, it serves an eight-course tasting menu that mixes Scandinavian and Asian flavors.
Shop-house sare included in several of its itineraries, including Emerald Hill, Chinatown, and Joo Chiat.
Tours generally last half a day and cost $55 per person.
