When people say Singapore city centre, what comes to mind (or my mind at least) is usually high-rise buildings, super modern facilities and, well, sometimes a rather soulless environment. Hence, I was very pleased to re-discover the Carlisle Road landed enclave, an area that still has a lot of character and yet is very centrally located. (If you’re not familiar with the area, it’s in between Thomson, Newton, Farrer Park and Little India. The photo above doesn’t do the area justice, so scroll down to see more!)
Note: at the time of writing there was an “original condition” “terrace house” for sale at $2m+. However, the same ad that referred to it as a “terrace house” also calls it a “strata” duplex apartment so I’m guessing it’s not a “real” landed property, if that makes sense. (The property looks like a terrace house but has a strata title.)
I say rediscover as I used to go to the area often as a child, because a cousin lived in a walk-up apartment there in the late 80s or early 90s. I was under the impression that the walk-ups had been demolished and the area re-developed since then. But when I drove by a few weeks back after not having been to the area in years, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had not changed that much. There is a good mix of landed properties, new boutique condos as well as walk-up apartments in the neighbourhood and there was a distinct kampung feeling in the area.
Boutique development in the hood. An old apartment. One thing about older apartments is the lack of covered parking, although I do like the design/structure of this building.What I assume to be a landed house based on what I see on the Master Plan (it looks rather like an office building!) I actually love the facade of this property – it reminds me of the converted warehouses in East London! On the note of other countries, another thing I noticed about the area is that it is very popular with expats. In fact, the residents I saw formed 2 distinct groups: younger expats and elderly locals. (I’m assuming the older locals are people who bought properties in the area aeons ago and never moved out.)
I’ve done my fair share of landed property walkabouts, and this is the only area in which residents of the flats waved to me from their balconies above. AND it is also the only area in which residents (or someone who I assumed to be a resident) actually spoke to me! (I was asking my walking companion a question about the neighbourhood and the gentleman replied. Some people may have found it intrusive but, given the context in which it happened, it came across as friendly (and not at all reminiscent of eavesdropping.) I even saw some residents standing around the nearby facilities having a chat, all of which gave the neighbourhood a lovely, village-y feel.
Fun fact: there are at least 22 roads within the estate that are named after places in the UK. If you’re interested in the history of the area, do click through to the Remember Singapore website. It’s a great treasure trove for those interested in Singapore’s history! If the editor is reading this, I’d just like to let you know how much I enjoy and appreciate you sharing your knowledge!
We have Cambridge Road where, besides the landed properties above, there is also an HDB estate. In line with what I said about the community feel of the area, the residents of Cambridge Road actually took the initiative to create a green walkway to shelter a commonly-used path in the area! How lovely is that!While not all of the path was fully sheltered, it leads to the HDB estate and Pek Kio hawker centre so I can imagine just how many people use it every day. It did provide some shade and was interesting to look at.Anyway back to the subject at hand – the names of the roads! There’s Hertford Road, Bristol Road etc! (Today’s tour will focus on the area bounded by Keng Lee Road, Dorset Road, Owen Road and Norfolk Road.)Some houses have been redeveloped. They’re so tall now I actually mistook some of them for boutique condos, whilst others are still in charming vintage condition. This one has been lovingly maintained but there were a few that had seen better days. However, the area didn’t feel derelict – rather the old houses gave the area lots of character. I can imagine it being a great place for an Instagram photoshoot!Such as this one! (Not saying it’s derelict, but it certainly would look nice as the backdrop for a fashion shoot!)And this one! Although this looks more like it may have been a temple or some sort of community building.And this one!There’s also a gorgeous temple within the landed enclave.Here’s a photo to show you exactly how close the temple is to the houses! However, you’ll be pleased to hear that the temple was very quiet when I visited so there was no noise disturbance for the residents (then at least.) I couldn’t find any information about worshipping hours either, so I’m not sure if the temple is actually in use?
The area is actually very multicultural. Besides the temple, there’s the Kim Mui Hoey Kuan, Masjid Tasek Utara Mosque, World Red Swastika Society and at least 2 churches in the area.
There is also a good variety of properties in the area. Some are larger and detached, like the one shown below.
Doesn’t this house look quiet? The whole area felt rather quiet and peaceful actually (until you walk out to the main road that is) and, walking inside, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that the area is actually in central Singapore!Others are smaller terrace units, albeit with good rebuilding potential. Someone taking advantage of the rebuilding opportunities! This is a corner terrace FYI and, in my opinion, quite a sizeable one!
Some of the houses have their entrances on slightly elevated ground, so you need to climb stairs to get to the front entrance.
And there are apartment buildings as well. Taking this photo at a weird angle as this was the building from which a resident waved to me. She was still sitting on her balcony when I took the photo and I didn’t want to intrude on her privacy by photographing her without her consent. Seems like a small gesture but it got my day off to a good start! Characteristic of the old estates in Singapore, you do get these alleyways separating a lot of properties.More rebuilding work. Oh, one thing to note is that these houses are lucky as they have space to park their cars within their properties.
Not all the houses here had the same luxury!
Examples 1 and 2.Example 3.
Also, note how there’s no pedestrian pavement along this road. However, it is a no-through road, so it doesn’t see a lot of traffic, making walking on the road rather easy (compared to having to navigate oncoming cars in other areas.)
Other parts of the estate have quite broad pavements, although there are some trip hazards around the base of the 2 papaya trees.Even though the estate has its fair share of terrace houses (usually associated with more crowded roads), this is as cluttered as the road ever got. It wasn’t difficult to drive or walk through at all.In fact, I don’t recall seeing any cars driving through the estate! Look at how empty the roads are. There were also some public amenities in the middle of the estate. The red structure is a fun slide – this is one of the better playgrounds I’ve seen in my walkabout.It’s Cambridge Park, if you were wondering! (A smoke-free park)There’s a lovely shaded court next to it. Wow, it’s just as fancy as the playgrounds at Jurong Park and Ming Teck Park! In fact, I’d say it’s much more practical with the lovely high cover (higher cover = more wind & shade = you’re able to use the court throughout the day and not just in the early mornings/late evenings when the sun is down.) If you squint to the right, you’ll see the red slide and the playground there.And behind the court/playground is a row of houses.
To the left of the court is the Baptist Church I mentioned earlier. If we walk down Cambridge Road, past the court and the Baptist Church, we reach the main road, Keng Lee Road, which runs parallel to Rochor River. I’ll be honest and confess that although I liked Keng Lee Road, I thought that it was a drain before I came back and consulted the Google Gods!
That’s Keng Lee road. You can see it’s quite a major road, but not too busy the few times I’ve been to the area. (The roads near it are super jammed though.)A photo to show you how close the properties can be to the busy main roads.There’s also a flyover close by which, in my opinion, is not ideal. I’d definitely prefer to live in one of the properties within the estate instead of along here! (I’m noise sensitive.)
Anyway, when you’ve seen one main road in Singapore, you’ve more or less seen them all so let’s head back into the estate instead. One of the nice things about the area is having Pek Kio Market at its doorstep (some landed estates are very inconveniently located!) So let’s head that way for you to take a look at the surrounding amenities!
Walking down Cambridge Road. I believe that’s the greenway we see on the left. Behind it is a lovely open space which is another reason the area feels so “old Singapore.” (The houses are only surrounded by towering buildings on one or two sides and not all sides!)Here’s a photo of the Green expanse for you to admire. I actually preferred the portrait photo of this area and not this landscape version. However, I decided to include the landscape shot as it shows you where you are in relation to the landed houses. If you peek to the left, just under the green leaves of the tree, you can see the top floors of the terrace houses in the distance.
It’s a really short walk to Pek Kio Market. Only 5 minutes or so (of course, it may be further if you live in a different part of the estate!) However, the heat made it feel much further than 5 minutes if I’m being honest. I can see why residents felt the greenway was necessary! We were definitely wilting when we walked through the uncovered areas.
Public service announcement: there’s a multi-storey car park opposite the market, as well as lots on the same side of the road as the market if you want to park closer!You reach a food park first. You’ll need to walk a bit more to get to the hawker centre. I persevered as I’d been wanting to eat at some of the stalls at Pek Kio for a while.Finally there.
Besides food stalls, there are other useful household-type shops in the area. This HDB estate is definitely not as gentrified as the ones in Chinatown (such as Everton) or the one at Sunset, and we don’t find the yuppie type of cafes here that we do in those. (There was one trendy gelato place.)
Still, the shops are very practical. There’s even a water bottle recycling point where I think you can cash in on old bottles. (The queue was too long so I didn’t go take a detailed look.)
I did take some photos of the hawker centre but they showed the customers’ faces quite clearly so I won’t put them in the article. Instead, here’s what I ate there. Yes, it’s the Wah Kee prawn noodles which Pek Kio is famous for. (The chee cheong fun is quite famous too. However, since this is a property blog, not a food blog, I’ll skip the food review bit!)We polished off our breakfast then I went back to the estate to take more photos. After Pek Kio (with Cambridge estate still behind us) we reach another main road, Owen road.
If you turn right here, you’ll find another HDB estate and some condos, such as Kentish Green and Kentish Court. You can either continue following Owen Road down to Farrer Park MRT station or you can take a right turn and enter Cambridge estate again by way of Dorset Road.
It’s about a 16-minute walk from Farrer Park MRT to Cambridge Park (the park where we saw the fancy red slide), mind you that’s about as far as the estate gets from Farrer Park MRT so I think it’s safe to say that most houses are within a 15 minutes walk to the MRT. Cambridge Park is also a 13 minutes walk to Little India MRT and a 28 minutes walk to Newton MRT (because you need to make a huge detour around KK Hospital. By car, it’s only 4 minutes to Newton MRT versus 3 minutes to Farrer Park, so not much difference.)
When you re-enter Cambridge estate by way of Dorset, you see more HDB blocks. Despite the road looking so quiet, buses do ply this road, namely 131 and 131A so you don’t have to hike all the way to the MRT if you don’t want to.
This pretty much brings us to the end of today’s tour!
Before I go, I’ll briefly touch on the Primary Schools in the vicinity and then leave you with more photos of the colourful buildings in the estate. For Primary institutions within 1 km, it’s mainly Farrer Park Primary and St Joseph’s Institution Junior (within 0.35 and 0.53 km of 41 Cambridge Road according to yoursingaporemap.com but do remember to check for the specific unit you’re looking at.) ACS Junior, ACS Primaru and St Margarets are all close but alas not close enough!
We definitely don’t see many of these in Singapore anymore!Seating area in one of the apartment buildings that reminds me of an ancient Chinese garden, albeit somewhat less landscaped.That red and green building is the Kim Mui Hoey Kuan I mentioned earlier. A little further down is Chui Huay Lim Club which has a Teochew restaurant and looks even grander!Bye bye, Cambridge estate! Let me know how you liked the area in the comments and whether there are any other areas you’d like to see reviewed!
TJ’s interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one’s square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
TJ
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