Cantonese temple at Sims Drive and pre-war bungalows at Adam Park identified for conservation

SINGAPORE: One of the oldest Cantonese temples in Singapore will be considered for conservation, along with 19 pre-war bungalows at Adam Park. 

The Mun San Fook Tuck Chee temple at Sims Drive was founded in the 1860s by migrant communities of mainly Cantonese origin. It moved to its current location when its trustees bought the land in 1902 to construct the temple along the banks of the Kallang River. 

The pre-war bungalows at Adam Park, meanwhile, were built in 1929 by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) as housing for families of officers from the Municipal Council and SIT.

They have remained largely intact since World War II, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Announcing URA's proposal to conserve the two sites, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said on Friday (Nov 8) that even as Singapore plans for its future, it must strive to include significant heritage in its development plans. 

"An important way we do so is through conserving buildings and structures of the highest significance to serve as a physical and visual link to our past," he said at the URA Architectural Heritage Awards.

"By conserving such buildings and structures, we hope to retain physical reminders of the shared history and memories of our nation, communities and people.

"This fosters a deeper connection among Singaporeans that binds us together and strengthens our national identity."

Conserved buildings are subject to certain URA guidelines. Permission is required before all alteration works and new use of the space can begin.

MUN SAN FOOK TUCK CHEE TEMPLE

According to the URA, the Mun San Fook Tuck Chee temple is a rare tangible marker of the early settlement known as Sar Kong village where the inhabitants worked in nearby brick kilns, sago processing workshops and tanneries.

In addition to being a spiritual refuge for devotees, the temple also performed societal functions in the 1950s and 1960s, URA said.

While the Mong Yang Chinese School, which was set up by the temple, no longer exists, the Sar Kong Athletic Association still operates from the temple, promoting lion and dragon dancing.

The original temple was built in typical Cantonese temple architecture, with a three-bay construction with triple gable end walls expressed on each side.

"Characteristic of Cantonese architecture, it is simple in form with minimal ornamentation compared to other heritage temples," said URA.

Despite some repair works over the years, the "fundamental qualities of the Cantonese style of architecture is still evident", URA said, highlighting the flat roof ridge and calligraphic panels at the sides of the door.

"The temple serves as a significant local identity marker that promotes its heritage to the wider community through its heritage gallery (set up in 2014), publications, and cultural practices such as Cantonese opera and fire dragon dance held during the birthday celebrations of the God of the Earth," the agency added.

BUNGALOWS AT ADAM PARK

The site at Adam Park was a battlefield in the days leading up to the fall of Singapore during WWII.

After the British surrendered to the Japanese during WWII, Adam Park housed a Prisoner of War camp, holding up to 3,000 British and Australian POWs, many of whom were put to work on the Syonan Jinja shrine at nearby MacRitchie Reservoir.

After the POWs were moved to the Sime Road Camp, the houses were repaired by the Japanese and used to house employees of major Japanese companies, who stayed there until the end of the occupation in 1945.

When the British returned, the estate was rehabilitated. The bungalows were then leased out to private tenants or companies who used them to house their employees.

"Evidence of the POW camp still exists at Adam Park today, including the remnants of a POW calendar etched into the wall at the outhouse of 5 Adam Park, and a painted chapel wall mural on the upper storey of 11 Adam Park," URA said.

"Previous small-scale investigations conducted in the estate had provided additional information on the role of the estate in relation to the war and unearthed a sizeable number of wartime artefacts, including ammunition and regimental badges."

The houses are currently being rented out for residential uses.

There are two types of bungalows within the Adam Park estate.

The first comprises 14 one-and-a-half-storey black-and-white bungalows that are partly embedded in the slopes of the hill, creating partial basements. They also have single-storey outhouses.

The other five bungalows are large two-storey buildings sited on higher ground with more modernist architectural expression, URA said.

They have grand entrance porches and encircling verandahs, with bedrooms on the second storey and living spaces on the first.

Outhouses are connected via a linkway and an external staircase, while there are also standalone garages, shared between neighbouring units.

The sites were identified for conservation as a lead-up to the Draft Master Plan 2025, which details land use and development plans for Singapore over the next 10 to 15 years.

"As part of our conservation work, we are continually pursuing ways to strengthen the distinctive character and heritage of our towns, one of which is through conserving buildings that are of the highest historical and architectural significance," said URA.

"The proposed conservation of the 19 pre-war bungalows at Adam Park as well as the Mun San Fook Tuck Chee Temple aims to protect their built heritage as important physical markers that capture the collective history and memories of our nation and different communities."

Singapore’s urban conservation programme was launched 35 years ago in 1989. Since then, it has conserved more than 7,200 buildings and structures in over 100 areas.