I have passed the Goldhill landed estate many, many times in my life and, I must confess, sometimes rather patronisingly thought, “It must be so noisy for the people living here!” Perhaps because it’s located right next to ACS and the main road, Dunearn Road gets VERY busy. It gets SO busy that, a friend who sends her kid to the school always tells me she feels very sorry for the people living there.
Well, the joke is on us, because when I headed over for a walkabout of the area, I realised that it is actually very, very peaceful and spacious inside the estate! (Obviously, the houses that line the main road do get their fair share of road noise but the ones inside are terrific.) In fact, it’s one of the nicest landed areas I’ve seen in a long time, so let’s head on over now to see why!
For those not familiar with the area, let’s start with a map to show where we are (basically the red dot above.) As you can see, it’s to the left of ACS and Barker Road Methodist Church. Do you also see the large patch of green just North of Goldhill? That’s one of the reasons the estate is such a great place to live in, although you wouldn’t have been able to tell looking in from the main road that the estate was hiding such a gem.
Another reason is the proximity of the black and white houses, along Swiss Cottage Road (to the left of Goldhill) and Malcolm Road. As many of these houses come with huge gardens, it makes the area much less densely occupied and much more tranquil.
Sadly, as those of you familiar with the Singapore property market have already guessed, the green space and the Swiss Cottage area are both zoned residential “subject to detailed planning” on the Masterplan. So like many of their counterparts, so they may one day disappear. However, for now, it makes the area a very nice place to live in.
Example: if your neighbour is living in such a huge property, even if you are staying in a terrace house, you will enjoy a lot of privacy! (This is where Goldhill Avenue meets Mount Rosie Terrace and Mount Rosie Road.)Mount Rosie Terrace: the Mount Rosie area is not part of today’s tour but I thought I’d show you this road, in case you were looking for entry-level landed properties (terrace houses) in the area.Walking back via Goldhill Avenue to Goldhill landed estate and turning back to take a photo. The left side of the road is pretty much all large properties, so the area feels very exclusive and private. (Typically, landed estates with terrace houses can feel very cluttered as there are many more cars fighting for the same amount of street parking. No such issue here.)An old apartment block I passed along the way. If your budget doesn’t quite run to a landed house, there are also several apartment complexes along Goldhill Avenue. I was so taken with the area, I couldn’t help Googling to see how much the apartments here were going for but none were for sale at the time of writing.Another boutique condo along Goldhill Avenue.
At the end of the road, you reach a T-junction where you can find Goldhill Avenue Playground. It’s a simply massive playground given the small number of properties here!
Yes, that is a basketball-badminton court in the playground! (Something you hardly see in public playgrounds). I can think of fewer than 5 landed estates I’ve seen with such a privilege.Goldhill playground – we walked over using the road leading out of the right of the photo.Another photo to show you how generously sized everything is here. As mentioned, we walked here using Goldhill Avenue, which is lined with apartments. However, even then, the apartments are not massive skyscapers, so they don’t block out the light. You can barely see them on the right of the photo.
Let’s turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise, continue past the playground and see the rest of the area.
On the other side of the playground is a cul-de-sac, Goldhill Place. Don’t the houses above look massive? Look closer and you’ll realise that they’re terrace houses. I initially thought they were semi-detached units!Goldhill Place.A closer look at the large properties I just pointed out. As you can see, they look extra humongous because they have pretty wide frontages (for terraces) and because they’ve been built up to maximise the plot ratio. (Check out the green property on the left to see how much higher you can go, if you buy an old property and re-build.)Here’s what the older properties look like. Have you noticed how they have rather spacious driveways, which can fit more than one car? Some may find it a waste of space (as it’s not internal, “usable” space) but it does mean that you won’t have to worry about finding a parking lot (unless you have more than 2-3 vehicles!)More terrace houses.Look down the road.Some more modern properties in the area.And if the garden of your landed house isn’t big enough for you, at the end of Goldhill Avenue is Moulmein Community Garden!This is the only community garden I’ve seen in my walk-about that has a shaded “hut” with a lounging area!Opposite the Community Garden is this road. There were no trespassing signs, so I couldn’t go down to explore, unfortunately.Behind the community garden are more black and white houses. See what I mean about how they’re part of the charm of the area? Your closest neighbour is so far away!Community Garden to my right, turning around and looking back in the direction we came from.Houses on the left, a community garden on the right.Junction of Goldhill Drive and Goldhill Avenue.More terrace houses that we pass along the way.This house looks pretty familiar to me…. If you’re an avid follower of Stacked, you may find it familiar too!Interesting rebuilt house – I wonder if there’s an air well, because the brick wall in front must block off a lot of light?Squint through the gap between the 2 houses, and you’ll notice that the row of houses behind is built on higher land. We’ve now reached the junction of Goldhill Drive and Goldhill Rise. (Goldhill Drive, Rise and Avenue form a loop.)At the same junction shown above, and looking over at Swiss Cottage Estate. See how the spaciousness bestowed by the neighbouring huge black and white estate is part of what makes Goldhill Avenue so special? I took a short walk over to show you what it’s like in more detail.A row of Goldhill Drive properties to the right and the Swiss Cottage houses to the left.Turn to face the other direction and you’ll be looking at Dunearn Road. I almost couldn’t recognise it because it looks so peaceful from here!The main entrance into Swiss Cottage.Next to Swiss Cottage are more Goldhill Estate houses but, this time, the properties line the main road (Dunearn Road. It looks quiet because the photo was taken on a Sunday night.)Looking back into Swiss Cottage/Goldhil.
Let’s wander over to the houses lining Dunearn Road now.
In front of the houses is a bus stop. (The estate isn’t really within walking distance to an MRT, though it is in between Stevens and Newton MRT stations. If you do want to walk, Stevens MRT is a bit closer at 16 minutes walk.)The houses are slightly above road level, so there is a staircase leading up to them.As you can see, the road slopes upwards as it leads into the estate. (The row of houses behind this road-lining row is higher too.)Have you noticed something about these houses?
They’re semi-Ds! I find it rather refreshing as, objectively speaking, despite being more expensive, they have a less desirable aspect, being located directly next to the main road. While the “cheaper” terrace houses have the luxury of being located inside the estate, protected from the road noise and enjoying the verdant greenery! (Oftentimes, developers would place the cheaper units in the less desirable spots.)
Call it a dog in the manger attitude if you will – since I’ll never be able to afford a semi-D (or even a terrace house) on a writer’s salary – but it’s good to see that, for once, the more expensive properties aren’t always the “best.” (Although “best” is rather subjective and you will still need a lot of money to get a terrace house here!).
I turn to the left and this is what I see. There is a large hedge of greenery to shield out some of the road noise.Turn to the right and you’ll see a Caltex station, with ACS behind it.
Now that I’ve been waxing poetic about this estate, it’s time to share some of the negatives. One would be the before and after school jam along the road, when ACS Primary starts or ends class. I’ve already mentioned this earlier, so I won’t go on about it again.
The second issue would be the lack of amenities and hawker centres. You’re very close to Orchard Road- if you drive or take a bus. Newton Food Centre seems close but it’s really about a 30 minutes walk away. There isn’t really anywhere you can walk to for a cup of coffee on this side of the road, besides the CALTEX shown above.
You could cross over to the Bukit Timah Road side and in 15 minutes you’ll be at Alocassia or Balmoral Plaza. However, both places are pretty small, and somehow I find having to cross the road makes things feel farther away. There is a tiny Cold Storage at Alocassio and a tiny NTUC at Balmoral Plaza though. You’re also about a 15-minute walk from Raffles Town Club (if you’re a member.) This isn’t a dealbreaker, by any means, but personally, I prefer landed estates with a more village feel, which Goldhill unfortunately doesn’t have.
Caltex.Another good thing about the estate: there are a lot of ways you can drive into it (so there are fewer chances of being stuck in a jam waiting to turn in or out.) The entrance beside Caltex is just one of several ways you can enter Goldhill estate. (Whilst you can walk to Goldhill estate via the Swiss Cottage entrance, you can’t drive over from there. You can, however, drive to Goldhill via a few other roads, such as Chancery Lane.)Goldhill Rise, which we saw earlier on our walk.Still walking in via Goldhill Avenue.
See what I mean about how things are reversed here? All the properties closer to the main road tend to be larger properties, like semi-Ds!
More properties.This is the largest apartment in the area: Goldhil Towers.Passed a few construction projects along the way.More vintage semi-Ds.As mentioned, the land here is quite sloping, so some houses, like the ones shown here, have basements. I actually really like houses with such features as, even though it’s a basement, it gets a lot of light!Photo for you to appreciate exactly how much higher the road I’m standing on is.Another photo of a downward-sloping street in the estate.
Well, this brings us to the end of today’s tour. Were you as impressed by it as I was? Before we go, some housekeeping issues to mention. I mentioned that the closest amenities were across the road. In case you were wondering, there is an overhead bridge right in front of the estate to take you over.
Here’s what the houses look like from the overhead bridge.On the other side is ACS and the petrol station.This is Alocassia: as mentioned, it has a Cold Storage, a small cafe, a Subway, a McDonalds (drive-through), a gym, a Jurlique spa, and an Italian restaurant. (170m down is Stevens MRT.)
Secondly, I’ve mentioned ACS Primary a few times, and being within 1 km of ACS is a huge selling point for the properties here. You probably already know this but, just in case, I have to highlight that the school is moving to Tenga, and the Barker location will consolidate with the one at Winstedt Road. (Moreover, the estate is also close to 3 other schools: SCGS, SJI and CJC.)
That brings us to the end of our look at Goldhill estate! See you guys again next week and let me know if there are any other areas you want to find out more about!
TJ
11 min read
