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Touring Onan Road, A Freehold Landed Estate With A “Hidden” Enclave Of Shophouses
Published 1 Jun 2025 |
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8min read
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BY TJPublished 1 Jun 20251 comments | 8min read
BY TJ
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
A few months back, Jordan requested a tour of the Onan Road landed estate, but closer to the i12 side. (Thanks for following this series, by the way!) It took me a while to get round to it- apologies, but it’s hard to time the tours because of Singapore’s incessant rain- but that’s where we are off to today!
The stretch of Onan Road we’re visiting today is in between Dunman Road and Fowlie Road. It’s actually right next to Joo Chiat Road where you’ll find a plethora of commercial units so you’re never far from good food such as Mellvin Seafood Restaurant. (That’s also where you’ll find Joo Chiat Community Club and Duku Road which we visited a while back. To be honest, the 2 areas felt so different, I didn’t even realise they were next to each other till I looked at Google maps! (For more information about the shops and restaurants near Duku Road, click through to that tour- one thing about living in this part of East Coast is that there’s a real village feel and you’re usually within walking distance of cool places to hang out.))
Map for your reference. Although not clear in the map above, at the Dunman Road-Onan Road junction, you can find Dunman Food Centre (so literally at the doorstep of Onan Road properties- to be honest, it may be a bit too close for some people, such as myself.)
Here is the Onan Road-Dunman Road junction.On the left is the carpark for the Dunman Road Food centre (which is just outside the scope of this photo.) It’s a tiny carpark.You can see how tiny it is here. The yellow building is Dunman Road Food Centre.There is also some street parking next to the Food centre (and opposite the landed houses.)Behind me (between where Dunman Road meets Carpmael Road and the Onan-Dunman junction), there’s another tiny URA carpark.You can fit fewer than 10 cars there. It’s also a bit difficult to reverse out as you can’t see the pedestrians/ cyclists/ other cars if there’s someone parked next to you. (I know as I parked there.) And some cyclists, such as the ones I encountered, have quite a laissez-faire attitude to road safety, which can be a bit stressful for motorists. (Checking their phones whilst they cycle and not paying attention to reversing road traffic, for example.)This is exactly how close the house are to the street parking lots (and food centre.)This gives you a better idea of how close the houses are to the food centre. To my naked eye, it looks like there’s barely 1 meter in between the closest house and the food centre. (Some people are concerned about living close to eateries due to potential pest issues.)There is still room to build higher for many of the houses on the street. (Like many landed estates in the east, the plot ratio of Onan Road is 1.4.)This is the view of Onan Street. Thanks to the no parking markings on the road, it’s quite clear/ easy to drive down, unlike some of its neighbouring streets. (If not, it would have been a bit of a nightmare thanks to people visiting Dunman Road Food centre.)Here’s the price of street parking, in case you were wondering.As shown, even though street parking is limited on Onan Road, you can still fit in a 2nd car with some creativity.Face-on view to show you the height difference between older and newer houses.The good thing about all the parking restrictions is that it makes it easy to drive down the street (easier than some of the neighbouring streets, to be honest.) If not, the road may become overwhelmed by visitors to Dunman Food centre.You also find a boutique apartment on the street, something common in the East. However, this one blends in so well with the surroundings it looks like a house from afar and doesn’t loom over its neighbours.I was there close to dinner time but there were still empty spaces available. (It was a weekday though, so things could be different on the weekends.)In between some of the units, we find a little alleyway. These are always nice as they serve as an extra buffer between houses but becoming increasingly rare (in newer estates) in land scarce Singapore.Some houses felt the need to reinforce the parking lines with some cones.Oone of the original single story houses sandwiched in between its rebuilt neighbours.This part of Onan Road is actually bisected by 2 streets. Here’s the first one, Marshall Lane. We find some symmetry between the houses here.Looking down Marshall Lane. Generally speaking, most of the houses on Marshall Lane don’t open on to it. (Their front doors/ gates face another road and it’s their side/ back that faces Marshall Lane.)At the Marshall Lane- Onan Road junction, you can find Bethany Emmanuel church.There can sometimes be friction living close to places of worship (of any religion) and, from the review, it seems that at least one of the residents here have had issues.Continuing down Onan Street, past Marshall Lane, you find more of the same: terrace houses and the occasional semi-D.Some of the properties here have very long driveways in front of them though (handy for parking extra cars.)Here’s a better view of exactly how much extra space some units have. (Also note that the units in the background of the photo don’t have a car porch.)Some of the older properties on the street.The houses come in a variety of sizes. Some are wide enough to park 2 cars, despite being a terrace unit.Vintage house.Some properties have interesting driveways.Now we’re at the second street that bisects Onan Road, Fowlie Road.Looking down Fowlie Road. Some beautiful landscaping to my right. Unlike Marshall Lane, there are several houses that open directly on to Fowlie Road.Crossing the Fowlie Road- Onan Road junction brings us to the last part of Onan Road, which is a cul-de-sac.At the end of Onan Road is the condo Malvern Springs.Right next to Malvern Springs is another condo but so interesting is its exterior that I had initially thought it was only half built! (Don’t get me wrong- I love red brick, its just not easy to find in Singapore these days.
Before we reach Malvern Springs, there’s a little surprise along Onan Road: shophouses! Given that we’d only seen modern houses before this, I was pleasantly surprised to find them.
The shophouses to the right, the more modern ones to the left.The shophouses all tend to be on the left side of the street.With more modern looking houses on the right.On the right, you can also find another alley that appears to link Onan Road to Fowlie Road. (You don’t really save much time using it, so it’s not much of a shortcut.)Last look at the shophouses.
This brings us to the end of today’s walkabout. How did you find the area?
Before we go, some things to highlight:
according to this NLB article, Onan Road was identified as a flood prone area in 1995. However, there are fewer floods as compared to the 70s. I did a quick Google search for “Onan Road flood Singapore” but no recent news came up. (Although with Google results these days…. Has anyone else found that the search results are becoming increasingly dodgy?)
These were the closest results I could find for flash floods in Onan Road.
According to the same article, the Onan-Joo Chiat area has a history of being a red light district, with complaints as recent as 2005-2009 about “scantily clad women”, massage parlours and bars in the area. Another Google search resulted a 2024 article about “public entertainment outlets” in Joo Chiat, going so far as to mention a ring fencing operation at “the corner at Onan Road.”
And, finally, here’s the history of sales transactions in the area for your reference.
Now that we’ve come to the end, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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
Thank you for the tour and for this series! I saw the Duku Road tour previously and was eagerly awaiting this one.