Black & Whites: The Battleground

BLACK & WHITES THE BATTLEGROUND

Published and copyright by Farah Elias, Syafiqah Omar and Jamuna Raj © April 2011

A final year project for the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University

Printed in Singapore by KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners

The different stylesof black-and-whites

(clockwise from top left) Arts & Craft (1904)

Late Arts & Craft (1922)Post-World War I (1920)

Tropical Edwardian (1913)

Sketches by Julian Davison

4 BLACK AND WHITES

In the last 600 black-and-white

colonial bungalows in Singapore,

lives have been carrying on as

they have been for the past 100

years. With spacious interiors

and lush gardens, these houses

are a stark contrast to ubiquitous

25-story apartments that stand in

grid formation across the island.

But the forces of modernization

and progress are prowling,

threatening to weed out this

alternative mode of living. The

city’s problem of land scarcity

means that old houses have

succumbed to the wrecker’s ball

to make way for buildings and

roads. Now, Singapore’s colonial

black-and-whites house the final

flowering of a vanishing lifestyle.

Black & WhitesTHE BATTLEGROUND

By FARAH ELIAS, SYAFIQAH OMAR AND JAMUNA RAJ

Photos and layout by FARAH ELIAS

A TROPICAL DREAMThe planter’s house along Russels Road, is one of the oldest black-and-white bungalows in Alexandra Park. Once surrounded by a pepper plantation, the house is considered a favorite of several black-and-white enthusiasts.

OUTDOOR LIVINGAn artwork displaying Hong Kong street

names greets guests in the outdoor sitting area of this semi-detached house

in Kay Siang Hill.

BEARING A WHITE MAN’S BURDENKhoo Ken Hee, 48, counts himself lucky for being able to own a black-and-white house in Singapore. When he first discovered it in 2005, the bungalow on Cable Road near downtown was derelict and had its walls spray painted with graffiti. Seeing that the house – built in 1920 by a private company – was not under state property, Ken Hee, who runs a paintball business, bought the building and land for $4.5 million. But maintaining it is a “constant work in progress,” stresses Ken Hee, whose house was awarded the Asian Heritage Award by URA in 2009. “I’ve cracks everywhere and the paint is fading,” he says. Still, for him the chance of living in such a house is worth the trouble. “I’ll never get a house like this again.”

NO MAN’S LANDExcavators are parked on the construction site, where two dozen black-and-whites have been cleared in Seletar Camp to make way for the Aerospace Park due for completion in 2018.

12 BLACK AND WHITES 13BLACK AND WHITES

But recently, their postcolonial suburban idyll has been shattered by a steady stream of trucks and lorries that rattles into the compound every day, breaking the quiet and drowning out the sound of the birds as they unload heaps of sand and cement.

The whine of pumps and cranes along with the shriek of power tools drilling into the ground add to the cacophony that echoes across the neighborhood, much to the ire of its residents.

It is Lunar New Year, a public holiday in the largely Chinese-populated country, but Andy Tear, 35, is not taking a break.

The Englishman who came to Singapore 11 years ago to work as a drama teacher, is spending the day building a bamboo fence around his single-story Seletar house.

A few hundred yards down Maida Vale, a road where rows of similar black-and-white houses stand, one of Andy’s neighbors has resorted to double-glazing his shutter windows.

Another has turned his garden into a mini-jungle of sorts, planting bushes and trees to block out the din.

Over in Oxford Street a mile away, others have hung wind chimes and installed outdoor speakers out on their airy verandas – fighting noise with noise.

“Everyone’s trying to compensate for it. We’re trying to hide around the corner. It’s just not what it was at all,” says Andy pointing out the six-lane road behind his

HOLDING UP HIS FORTAndy Tear, 35, has still not gotten used to the construction that now plagues Seletar Camp. He is determined to stay on as he battles with the noise and dust, hoping that it will all end soon.

t the tail end of colonial rule in the 1950s, residents of Seletar Camp woke to the sound of planes

at the air base next door. But for the past 50 years, nothing louder than playing children

has disturbed the tranquility. Spacious bungalows, distinguished by their white walls and black woodwork, dot the 346-acre estate on the northeast corner of the tiny Southeast Asian island of Singapore.

house and straining to make his voice rise above the sound of trucks rumbling by.

He teaches drumming to young children, so he is no stranger to noise. But the racket that envelops Seletar Camp is distressing.

According to residents, the noise is no better reduced at night as the road turns into an illicit race track for motorists. Here at the outskirts of the city where the authorities are seldom seen, boy racers can zoom down the wide lanes while paying scant attention to their flying speed dials.

The round-the-clock noise is just among the things Andy and his neighbors have had to endure since the Singapore government announced plans in 2006 to convert the area into an aerospace park.

Surrounded by dense foliage where 100-year-old tropical rainforest, casuarina and tembusu trees still stand, Seletar was once a green oasis, away from the city’s buzz. And along with the greenery, came the rich wildlife.

“Once we even had a monitor lizard in our garden,” says Andy. Now the wild life is only in the form of his two children, 8 and 4, playing on the trampoline in his back garden.

In a country where 80 percent of its population lives in high-rise apartments under the government’s public housing program, to live amid natural greenery and space is a luxury few can have.

But as Singapore progresses to become one of Asia’s leading modern

cities – advancing from third to first world status in just under 50 years – it is finding it hard to keep its architectural legacy at the same time as it develops.

Indeed, this tiny island – it covers an area slightly smaller than New York City – has had to find ways to deal with its lack of space, resorting to reclaiming land and flattening houses to make way for roads and towering buildings.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) – the government’s wing in charge of street planning – spelled out its master

Everyone’s trying to compensate for it. We’re trying to hide around the corner. It’s just not what it was at all. – ANDY TEAR, ON THE CHANGES HAPPENING IN SELETAR.


plan in 2000, stating that “for the next 40 to 50 years ... development is designed to meet the needs of a projected long-term population of about 5.5 million.” The government has recently revised the number to 6.5 million.

According to URA, “every square inch of our scarce land resources is optimized to stimulate Singapore’s economic growth and to improve the quality of life for all Singaporeans.”

This leaves little room for those who steer away from the city-state’s speed and linearity. Leading their alternative lifestyles for years, the idea that they are living on borrowed time has finally dawned on them.

“I guess there will be change when things grow and expand,” acknowledges Andy, whose bamboo fence offers nothing more than a physical consolation against the forces of development sweeping in.

Modern-day battlegroundAnother Briton Susan Amy used to

ride her bicycle down the narrow streets of Seletar that took over names of various places in England. Going house to house delivering a copy of the Seletar Chronicle

– a monthly newsletter she started in 1999 for the residents of the estate – she was occasionally distracted by the blue zip of kingfishers dashing from the tembusu trees lining the streets.

It is an unfortunate twist of history. The estate, built as an airfield in 1923 for the British Royal Air Force to safeguard Singapore is now, less than a century later, the site of a modern-day battleground on which its residents are forced to fight.

At stake: long-held lifestyles borne out of black-and-white houses and along with them, the buildings themselves.

SHOWERING IN STYLEMichael Corbidge’s bathroom has always been a conversation point among his guests. With porcelain plates and antique tiles filling up the four walls, he admits his bathroom is the “most fascinating room in the house.” Michael’s quirky style also extends to other parts of the house. His homes in England and Spain are not spared either. “Now, they are all filled with ridiculous stuff I wish I never had,” he says.

Defeat was in our faces. – SUSAN AMY, 51, WHO LEFT SELETAR AFTER 10 YEARS.

“‘Aren’t we so lucky? Isn’t this so amazing? How come we’re allowed to stay like this?’ We used to say just that,” recalls Susan, 51, who lived in Hyde Park on the Seletar estate for more than 10 years.

But in recent years, the once-peaceful community has been thrust into the glare of modern times after decades of living in solitude.

The Singapore government’s first incursion came in 2006 when it announced plans to build an aerospace park in Seletar. Many residents were determined to guard their way of life, sending impassioned letters to the media and convening at each other’s houses to carve out a strategy.

That did not always help.“We had a few expats who were very

outspoken, that kind of puts everyone off,” says Susan who spearheaded a campaign including talking to a Minister of Parliament.

“He was very kind and understanding about it,” adds Susan, a media studies university tutor. “And did nothing.”

A 15-minute documentary titled “Seletar Air Base – Singapore’s Secret

Every square inch of our scarce land resources is optimized to stimulate Singapore’s economic growth and to improve the quality of life for all Singaporeans. – URA, ON MAXIMIZING THE COUNTRY’S LIMITED SPACE.

Garden” directed by local filmmaker Li Xiuqi, was also included in the trajectory.

Xiuqi, who is also the granddaughter of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, wanted to increase public awareness of their plight. But it was not enough.

“Defeat was in our faces,” admits Susan, as she goes through pictures of her old

(Continued on page 18)

17BLACK AND WHITES

While the time-arrested colonial bungalows carry various styles from different periods during

which they were built, the expats who live in them often seem to want to recreate the same style.

Fine blue-and-white porcelain bowls, heavy wood cabinets with hinged doors and storage trunks with intricate woodwork styled from traditional Indian, Indonesian and Chinese craftsmanship stand alongside modern lamps and sofa couches.

In the bigger bungalows ceramic tiles dating back to early 20th-century layer the floor, which is usually decorated with hand-woven Persian rugs.

The fusion of rustic Asian furniture and modern pieces gives most of these homes a somewhat eclectic feel.

“In black-and-white houses people’s style choices tend to be consistent. Either furnished using typically Asian furniture or a mix of Asian with a touch of contemporary,” says Geri Archer, a British designer who has furnished many such homes and also lives in one.

The aesthetic that these homeowners cultivate also reflects a life well-traveled. Most end up expanding their collection of Asian-made furniture each time they go overseas.

Geri, whose designs incorporate both her client’s taste and her own experience, attributes this to being able to acquire unique pieces of furniture from around the region.

“It’s more of knowing what they can get here, in Singapore and Asia in general, and have something different that they can bring home,” she explains.

The popularity of old furniture has led to antique businesses flourishing here. China Collection, a family-owned business run by Australian Anne Lockett, even has a showroom in a black-and-white bungalow

Inside a black and white, east meets west

selling various antique pieces Anne has sourced from all around China.

Besides furnishings, black-and-white residents are also willing to spend on new fittings.

“I know a friend who paid about $4,000 putting in teak wood floors,” says Lisa Muller, 51, who until recently ran a business importing furniture from India and Indonesia, and has also been to a house with a lap pool.

But when their leases on the black-and-whites are up, residents must remove these additions. However, an agreement is usually struck between the previous tenant, and these fittings are bought over.

Occasionally, the porch with its arched driveway serves as an outdoor patio with large sitting areas.

Most houses open up to sweeping gardens, some as big as a tennis court, immense by Singapore’s standards. Outdoor carved stone statues – among them mock Chinese terracotta soldiers and Buddha stucco from Thailand – also adorn the space.

Inside, pieces of art hang on the walls, which often include a commissioned watercolor painting by French artist Derek Corke, who has made a name for himself doing portraits of these houses.

A coffee table book titled Black and White: The Singapore House from 1898-1941 by Julian Davison, which features some of these houses is also a regular sight.

“It helps me to understand the history that surrounds the house better,” says artist and designer Mirna Barakat-Brown, 37, whose house in Winchester Road stars in the book.

Sitting at her favorite spot on the steps leading up to her house, she looks around the tranquil gardens encircling her own slice of old colonial glory.

“Even if it’s just a short while here, it’s fine, because I’ve had this experience. I know I’m lucky,” she adds.

EXPAT WIVES’ HAUNTChina Collection boasts a wide range of furnishings from all over China. The antique shop run by Australian Anne Lockett attracts a regular stream of expat wives everyday.

It’s more of knowing what they can get here, in Singapore and Asia in general, and have something different that they can bring home.– GERI ARCHER, ON THE APPEAL OF “EXOTIC” FURNITURE AMONG WESTERNERS.


house on her computer.The curtain fell in June 2007 when after

a series of closed-door briefings with the residents, it was revealed that almost half of the houses would be demolished. Fear turned into both anguish and relief for some as they retreated back into their line.

“People had to try hard not to be happy that they didn’t get affected while many others were,” says Andy who had to move twice in Seletar. A road sign from his old home now hangs on his windowsill, the only reminder of the house that once stood on Regent Street.

By the end of 2008, the mood was somber as residents held garage sales laying out furniture, appliances and even air conditioning units.

And one by one, they left.The new Seletar Aerospace Park, will

have a bigger airport, wider runways, several hangars, as well as an aviation training school.

Built at a cost of $47.5 million and scheduled for completion in 2018, the park is developed by Jurong Town Council

house in Johor Bahru, a state in southern Malaysia connected to Singapore via a causeway, nine miles away.

“I used to say Seletar is my one and only home,” she says, letting out a heavy sigh.

Living in the pastBuilt by the British from the late

19th-century to before World War II, the black-and-white bungalows still cluster in the greener parts of Singapore. They once housed top-ranking British officials ranging from senior military officers to high court judges.

Architecturally modeled after the Mock Tudor style popular in England at that time, the bungalows reflect an acute understanding of living in the tropics. Their high ceilings, tall windows and big verandas are designed to let the breeze in. They also help in countering the heat that is constant between 32 and 36 degrees Celsius (90 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit) and tropical humidity that rarely dips below 80 percent.

In the old days, the long driveways filled with horse carriages, used to shuttle the administrators’ wives around town. And their spacious interiors – big enough for an elephant to wander through

– required several servants, or amahs, to

(JTC) Corporation – a key industrial specialist that manages bioparks and water fabrication projects island wide – and is expected to bring in 10,000 new jobs and pump in $2.61 billion annually to the Singapore economy.

“This is not going to be another run-of-the-mill industrial park,” explains Leong Hong Yew, JTC Corporation’s deputy director for industrial development. With two other aerospace parks already situated in Changi and Loyang, each barely six miles from Seletar, Singapore is moving towards becoming an aviation hub.

But JTC Corporation has said that it will try to keep a semblance of the old camp.

According to them, 204 out of 378 houses or 54 percent have been kept. Out of these, two-thirds will continue as homes while the rest will be converted into restaurants. Postwar wrought iron lampposts and some old trees labeled as

“heritage trees” have also been spared.Even so, changes are stark.Where once early 20th-century houses

stood, land has been stripped bare and

attend to them.These amahs, who lived in an outhouse

connected to the main one by a sheltered walkway, always wore white blouse and black silk pants, and thus became synonymous with the houses themselves.

To visit one today is to be whisked back to a grander era. In the morning, sunlight streams through the black-and-white bamboo blinds that hang low, allowing warm light to filter in. It is said that the houses themselves were cleverly oriented in such a way that they received no direct sunlight.

At midday, you can still imagine men in colonial garb sitting back on their rattan chairs out on the veranda, a book and cup of tea at hand as they shelter from the heat of the sun.

After the hottest months of June and July, the island, barely one degree above the Equator, experiences spells of monsoon rain. The sweet scent of frangipani from the garden wafts into the house, carried by the breeze.

At night, residents sleep to the sounds of nature that surrounds the estate as their guards keep watch over the land.

The house dictates how you live, says battlefield archaeologist Jonathan Cooper, 45, who carries out excavation works in

NEWCOMERS(right) Built in the 1930s, black-and-white

terraces on Old Birdcage Walk were one of the oldest in Seletar Camp. Once

married quarters for British Royal Air Force servicemen, they are now offices for

aircraft companies.

HOUSE FACTOR (top) From her favorite spot, Mirna Barakat-Brown, 37, observes her children playing in the pool. Ever since moving from a condominium and into the house on Winchester Road a year ago, it has improved her relationship with her family, she says. “I’m amazed how a house can do that,” adds the mother of three.

flattened. A Rolls-Royce hangar – its first such plant outside England – now looms over the remaining black-and-white houses.

“It feels imposing. Before we had no buildings blocking our view,” says Andy, who along with his neighbors form the last pockets of resistance.

But for many others like Susan, living with the noise and dust was not an option.

In 2009, she moved to another colonial

What you see is what you get in 1928 or 1942. The only big differences now, are air conditioning and cars.– JONATHAN COOPER, ON HOW MODERNITY HAS ENTERED COLONIAL HOUSES.


some of these houses.“The residents quaff and yarn, doing

exactly what the British did 70 years ago as they sit on the balcony today,” he adds.

“What you see is what you get in 1928 or 1942,” he says, “the only big differences now, are air conditioning and cars.”

Today, fewer than 600 of these black-and-white houses are left, scattered across the island. They are owned by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) – a government body in charge of handling state properties – who then rents them out on two-year leases. The management and maintenance of these houses are run by JTC Corporation and two real estate agents, Premas and DTZ.

Viewed as expensive by the average Singaporean, they have become home to expats who want a slice of old colonial style.

Their rents fetch anywhere from $1,800 for a 1,000 sq ft two-bedroom apartment in Portsdown to $20,000 for a 7,000 sq ft four-bedroom bungalow in the exclusive Alexandra Park. These houses also sit on massive plots of land, some measuring 60,000 sq ft – almost the size of a soccer field.

Elsewhere in Singapore, a plot that size would hold two blocks of flats for 300 families.

Despite high rents for these colonial houses, Rebecca Bisset, 48, editor of Expat Living magazine notes that more expats want to live in them.

“For a foreigner you come in and fall in love with the tropics. These beautiful houses with the lush greenery just look so inviting and alluring. A lot of people would do anything to live in them,” says Rebecca who has lived in Seletar for eight years.

The houses enjoyed their heyday in the 1920s and 30s but they reached a low point when Singapore was occupied by the Japanese who used them during World War II.

When the war ended, the British took over the houses again before passing them on to the Singapore government when the country gained self-governance in 1959.

But these houses really became

MERRYMAKING Waiters weave their way through the party crowd, carrying trays of starters and glasses of wine as guests mingle about.

popular after 1971 when Singapore moved towards becoming a financial center, bringing in many expats, most of whom were financiers, commodity brokers and shipping magnates who were attracted to the colonial-era way of life.

Today, estates near the city center like Alexandra Park and Mount Pleasant are known for their gutsy and sometimes proud neighborhoods where affection for the past is supported by their big paychecks.

Alex Hambly, 47, forms part of the mold of bankers and high-level managers that continue to live in these estates. His job for Prudential has him scouring Vietnam for companies to invest in.

A resident of Alexandra Park, he believes expats are attracted to live in Singapore because “you don’t get this anywhere else in Asia.”

“So one of the attractions of living here is being able to live in such a unique house,” adds Alex who previously lived in a farmhouse in India for eight years as part of his work.

Compared to other cities in Asia like Hong Kong, where expat salaries and benefits are higher, the opportunity to live with space and greenery is something different that Singapore offers.

And with the influx of expats seeking this lifestyle, it has given rise to strong-knit communities, which over the years have brought traditions and practices from their homelands.

Communal spiritFor the past five years, Jane and

David Mayo have organized their yearly Christmas party and invited the children from Haven Children’s Home over to their house to celebrate with them.

The couple, who have lived in Singapore for over 15 years, want to capture the spirit of giving during Christmas, says Jane, 46, as she makes her way around the guests, most of whom are British expats.

It is Dec. 15, out on the veranda of the 100-year-old Alexandra Park colonial bungalow – commonly known as the

Not every child has the vocals, but they come together to sing anyway and have fun. – JANIS KHOO, 38, FROM THE HAVEN CHILDREN’S HOME.

Plantation House – a group of 150 people gather around the children to hear them sing.

Standing in formation under fairy lights, the voices of 15 children singing carols rise above the soft pattering of the tropical rain.

The children themselves look forward (Continued on page 24)

COLONIAL PARTY HOUSEThe sound of revelers singing carols carried on past midnight with the last notes of “Jingle Bells” filling the festive air. “It’s now the social event of the year in Alexandra Park’s calendar,” says guest Lisa Muller, 51.


to the event every year and have been rehearsing.

“Not every child has the vocals, but they come together to sing anyway and have fun,” says Janis Khoo, 38, a program coordinator from the Home.

The coming together of these two worlds – one of the expats and the other of the children – is what makes this event special, says Caroline Essame, 47, a British therapist who has attended the party every year.

And for the first time this year, the children were asked to write down what they want for Christmas.

According to Jane, within a day of sending out their wish list to her friends,

“everyone had responded and volunteered to buy the gifts.”

Traditional Christmas dinner dishes, two legs of honey-baked ham studded with cloves, trays of cheesecake and mince pies, are laid on the long dinner table that runs down through the middle of the veranda in an open-air affair, all of which Jane has prepared herself.

And as the children sing their hearts out, a young girl dressed in white goes around carrying a red tin with the Salvation Army logo.

At the end of their fourth set, the tin is full. According to Janis almost $2,400 was raised that night.

By 9 p.m., the children have gone, the money has been donated, and the

OLD-TIMEROn many afternoons like this, Malaysian Ramlah Sulaiman, 60, has more expat neighbors visiting her than her own relatives. “We’ve lived here for so long, everybody knows us.”

guests get down to the serious business of celebrating Christmas with champagne and raucous singing of a kind that has echoed round these estates for almost a century.

Not all houses can claim such continuity of community spirit, though.

Up till four years ago Alexandra Park also hosted a communal ball in No. 5 York Road where residents would turn up all dressed to themes such as Shanghai Surprise or Bollywood Night.

However, when the previous occupant left, the current one did not continue to host the event.

“So nobody really talks to them anymore,” says long-time Alexandra Park resident Audrie Clarke, 45, with a laugh.

These expats import many traditions from back home, the most popular being Halloween where kids put on homemade costumes and go trick-or-treating from door to door.

The dark roads lined with jungle where bullfrogs croak and cicadas buzz adds to the spooky atmosphere.

The same goes for Seletar whose close-knit community is centered around a weekly playgroup session that has taken place every Friday for the last 15 years.

Today, past residents continue to return with their children despite living in different parts of the island.

Over in Portsdown, a colonial-era estate separated from Alexandra Park by a highway, residents gather yearly on Nov. 5 to mark Bonfire Night, the anniversary of the time when Guy Fawkes planned a failed coup to overthrow the British government in 1604.

On this night, red flames from a bonfire the size of double-decker bus in the middle of the field light up the night sky around Wilton Close.

Effigies of Guy Fawkes stuffed with newspaper crackle in the burning wood. The next day, a heap of ashes and a lingering burnt smell are the only evidence of the celebration hours before.

And running parallel to the secrecy that surrounded the incident that happened

The police comes and asks who’s responsible and everyone goes ‘don’t know.’– ALISON TOMPKINS, 45, ON THE ANNUAL BONFIRE NIGHT.

more than 400 years ago in London, the real organizer of the event remains a puzzle. After all, the authorities view such an activity as illegal.

“What happens is a little slip of paper comes to your mailbox saying ‘the bonfire is on such and such.’ No name or number,” says Alison Tompkins, 45, who has lived

in Portsdown for three years. She joins in the bonfire with relish, even though her hometown, York in England, does not celebrate the event out of respect for Fawkes himself who was brought up there.

“The police comes and asks who’s responsible and everyone goes ‘don’t know.’”

Not just expatsDue to their association with expats

and the Japanese police who lived in them during the war, black-and-white houses are shunned by most Singaporeans. But the houses are not solely the preserve of wealthy postcolonial Europeans. Many Asians live in them too.


PRAYING TO STAYAn altar sits in Stellar Chong’s balcony from where she enjoys an unblocked view of Portsdown’s greenery. “I always get people putting letters in my box telling me they are willing to pay a lot for my place,” says Stellar, 60. “But I don’t entertain them.”

Ramlah Sulaiman, affectionately known as “Pamela” by her neighbors, counts herself as the longest-standing resident in Portsdown, after more than 35 years in the estate.

The 60-year-old Malaysian lives with her brother and daughter in a two-room unit on the ground floor of a three-story apartment.

Together with Stellar Chong, 60, another Malaysian who lives in the

Checkered pastPreviously abandoned, the black-

and-white houses in Singapore were restored to their full glory

only recently. Once taken over by the Japanese in World War II, these areas were the sites of fierce battles. Some houses were used to lock up prisoners of war, others as brothels and macabre torture chambers.

Till today, ghost stories still circulate around these houses. Taxi drivers were not willing to go to these areas, and for those who had little choice, blasted music and turned on their headlights to high beam.

Some residents have claimed to experience them firsthand. Susan Amy who previously lived in Seletar, is one of them.

Her experience stemmed from a visit to the old guardhouse that sits at the entrance of Seletar Camp, which she planned to convert into a restaurant.

“I went down to the basement and there was a lock up. It was spooky,” recalls Susan.

When she turned around, she caught her friend who could “see,” staring over her shoulder.

“I remember asking her, ‘Is there something behind me?’”

“My friend glanced over to me and

said ‘yes.’”The apparition turned out to be a

young Japanese soldier who followed her home.

Her friend then conducted a ritual to “cleanse” her house. “I was made to sit in a circle drawn in salt. The salt circle had to be there for a few days before I could wash it away,” says Susan.

While it was a one-time affair for Susan, Michael Corbidge who lives in Portsdown habitually gets someone to “bless” his house at the start of each year.

“One time, we had the bells and the smudge sticks and the clanging. And things just started to jump off the wall,” reveals Michael.

He also claims the scent of No. 6 cigarettes has been lingering in his house for the past 13 years he has lived there – although nobody in the block smokes. Michael suspects the English cigarette was a favorite brand of a soldier who lived in the apartment.

But he does not see the house’s checkered past as an issue.

“I’m a great believer of, you know, walls just get impregnated with life and memories. That’s what I like about this place, the fact that maybe we share it,” he adds.

Me and her, we were joking that she’s the President and I’m the Vice President. – STELLAR CHONG, 60, ON HER RELATIONSHIP WITH FELLOW LONG-TIME NEIGHBOR RAMLAH SULAIMAN.

block opposite her, they are among the Asian representation in the largely expat community.

“Me and her, we were joking that she’s the President and I’m the Vice President,” says Stellar, who moved into her apartment more than 30 years ago after returning from London with her Singaporean lawyer husband.

Back then, they felt that they could not assimilate into the high-rise flats that are

home to most Singaporeans. Moreover, the green surroundings and tranquility of Portsdown offers a quiet respite from the city for her and her family.

“In the mornings the birds will come to the trees here and sing. Where else can you find this? If you stay in a flat you look out and it’s somebody’s window or roof,” says Stellar.

According to Ramlah, every Ramadan – the fasting month for Muslims – her expat


DIGGING INTO THE PASTFor the past two years, battlefield archaeologist Jonathan Cooper, 45, has spent most of his

days digging up the gardens of houses in Adam Park after chancing upon a bullet lying on the ground. Since then he has uncovered more bullets, cartridges and even a radio hide,

describing the artifacts as “devastatingly in your face.” Earlier in the day, he gave a sidewalk history lesson to local journalists on the fierce fighting that took place here between the

British and Japanese forces during World War II, in a bid to raise more funds for his project. He is working to find out which bungalow housed the chapel used by prisoners of war.

neighbors will come to her house and “break fast” with them in the evening.

“Even now after they return to their home countries, they will look me up here when they visit Singapore,” she says.

Other visitors are less welcome, though.

According to her and Stellar, drug addicts have sought refuge in the abandoned buildings.

The area also owes its shady past to a nearby prison that used to house illegal immigrants.

“Sometimes the prisoners escaped and hid in the empty units,” says Stellar who recalls hearing police sirens late into the night.

Just opposite her home, a railway line serves as a shortcut for people entering and leaving the estate.

But it has gained a dark reputation.Over the years, it has been labeled

“suicide alley” due to the high incidence of people lying in front of oncoming trains.

Market forces driving up rentsWhile residents had to contend with

such unwelcome characters, now, with modernization trickling it, the problem has evolved into a more menacing force.

Locals and expats alike face another concern: rising rents.

“There’s a lot of difference because after a few years the rent will increase,” says Ramlah. “It’ll increase by $250. A few years later it’ll be $300. And then another couple of years it’ll be $450.”

In 1975, she paid $180 a month, almost one-tenth the amount she pays now for her two-bedroom apartment.

Earlier, there was no strict procedure on renting such a colonial house. Tenants were selected either on a first-come, first-served basis or through a balloting exercise. Getting one of these bungalows was akin to winning the lottery, and some residents also related how they could hand over their leases to friends – always a popular thing to do.

“Because of this, the waiting list for the houses didn’t move. And if we let go of the houses, it’s difficult to get them back,” explains Ramlah.

But these informal agreements stopped when the government stepped in and introduced the open bidding system in 2007.

SLA says it was done so that allocating residential state properties was “fair and transparent.” The bidding system also allows market forces to decide the value of the properties, ensuring a “more accurate market value.”

Fortunately for SLA, many people bidding for these houses, mostly expats, come with hefty housing allowances from their companies.

These bids are usually double the initial housing valuations made by SLA. They take into account the property’s last value, location, condition, and whether it comes with a swimming pool or air conditioning.

Keh Peng Leong from DTZ, one of the state property-managing agents for SLA said that the highest rental bid he has seen

• Frequent paint jobs are necessary to maintain the black-and-white façade

• Owing to timber being used regularly as fitting structures, occupants often have to deal with termite problems in the long run

• The plumbing systems of these old homes must undergo routine repair works

• With them living amid forested areas, occupants come across the occasional snake or monitor lizard in their backyards

• Occupants have to contend with cracks in the floor, walls and ceiling

• Holes in roofs pose a big problem during the monsoon season

• Numerous window shutters make cleaning an arduous task

PROBLEMS LIVING IN A BLACK AND WHITE


to date is $36,000 for a black-and-white bungalow in Cluny Road, 10 minutes away from the city center.

The case is typical for all the black-and-white enclaves in Singapore, further aggravated by high demand and declining supply of these houses.

When Ramlah’s contract ends in 2012, she will have to pay an additional $400 to her current $1,600 rent to continue living in her apartment. Her two daughters who are working, help pay the rent but the pinch gets harder every time her lease is renewed.

With market forces pushing rents up, she says she may have to move into a government-built flat, which is cheaper.

“Is it still worth it to pay so much to live here?” she asks, as she walks out from her spacious balcony to her outdoor garden swing, all of which she would have to leave behind if she moves into a flat.

Historical memory bank runs dryDespite being regarded as the “little red

dot” on the map by its regional neighbors, Singapore is one of the world’s success stories.

While most countries were recovering from the global downturn in late 2009, Singapore’s growth rate of 15 percent last year was the biggest rise since 1975. The rebound put Singapore ahead of other Asian giants China and India as the fastest-growing economy in 2010.

The city’s skyline dazzles with two new attractions: Marina Bay Sands, a casino-based resort, and the Singapore Flyer, a giant Ferris wheel. Its soaring skyscrapers are fast resembling other big cities like Hong Kong and New York.

However, the success has come at a price.

Buildings here rarely get a chance to grow old. The city-state’s move towards redefining itself started when it gained independence from Malaysia in 1965. This has led to a flurry of older buildings being torn down to be replaced with more efficient ones. Most apartment blocks are replaced before they are 30.

The changes that beset black-and-whites are happening all across the island.

Nostalgic Singaporeans lament the loss of landmarks that were once proud products in the postindependence era such

It is cheaper and easier to bulldoze than conserve, which requires money, resources and expertise.– CHUA AI LIN, FROM THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT AT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE.

as the red-brick National Library that was leveled to make way for a tunnel to ease traffic congestion.

Chua Ai Lin from the History Department at National University of Singapore says that more often than not, it is cheaper and easier to bulldoze than conserve, “which requires money, resources and expertise.”

Conservation in land-scarce Singapore is as much about dollars and cents as it is about safeguarding cultural markers. Preservation advocates say that keeping heritage icons comes at a high cost as historical buildings are worth less than the land they stand on.

And the black-and-whites that stand on large plots of land are in the bulldozers’ sights.

Jettisoned in favor of modernity, colonial bungalows in prime districts have been razed to the ground by developers and replaced with sky-high condominiums. Geraldene Lowe-Ismail, 72, recalls attending parties at these houses when she was a child, as her mother who came from England knew expat families who lived in them.

Having led tours of black-and-white houses for the past 15 years, she sees the forces of change at work.

The black-and-whites lay dormant for several years when the British left Singapore’s shores, she says. This changed when an American named Glenn Knight pestered the government for one of the houses. He restored the bungalow to its former glory and started having parties in his house.

Soon, everybody wanted one. And the government saw the money it would get by renting them out.

However, when the government gave these bungalows a facelift, contractors dug up timeworn marble floors and replaced them with white bathroom-like tiles.

Geraldene remembers seeing piles of plastic laminate kitchen cabinets and drawers that hark back to the 60s laid out in the gardens of these bungalows, waiting to be installed.

Mass replacements that took place years ago have resulted in the standardization of the interiors of these houses today.

It also does not help that the colonial bungalows are not high on the list in

Is it still worth it to pay so

much to live here?

– RAMLAH SULAIMAN, ON HER RENT THAT WILL INCREASE YET

AGAIN IN 2012.

19271942

19451960

19651967

18981819

19231824

19701974

19892001

20072010

20112018

20202006

JulyMalayan Railway (KTM) services to be ceased

Seletar air base is built for the British Royal Air Force

Singapore becomes part of the Straits Settlement and a British colony

The start of the Japanese occupation

Feb. 14Battle at Adam Park

Feb. 15British surrenders to the Japanese

Singapore’s housing authority Housing Development Board is set up, taking over SIT

Urban Renewal Department (URD) is formed to facilitate redevelopment of Singapore’s central area

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is set up, taking over URD

State landlord Singapore Land Authority (SLA)is formed

174 black-and-white bungalows are demolished in Seletar

Open bidding system is introduced for black-and-white houses

Mediapolis@one-northto be completed

The first black-and-white bungalow is built at Gallop Road

Sir Stamford Raffles lands on Singapore

Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) is set up by the British in response to the country’s housing needs

Aug. 15Japanese surrenders, and by September, British returns

Aug. 9Singapore gainsindependence from Malaysia

British troops start to leave Singapore, abandoning the black-and-white houses

URA’s Conservation Department is formedand legal protection for black-and-white housesare put in place

Government announces plans on aerospace hub in Seletar

Plans for Mediapolis@one-north are announced

Seletar Aerospace Park to be completed

HISTORY TIMELINE



Singapore’s collective memory of its hallmark architecture. Locals feel more connected to the vernacular Chinese shophouses. While over 6,500 of them have been gazetted for preservation, out of 100 old bungalows that are similarly gazetted, only a handful are black-and-whites.

Despite efforts to keep the exterior of the colonial bungalows the same as when they were built, “all the best black-and-white houses don’t exist anymore,” says Julian Davison, who has written a book about them. The finest ones were demolished in the 70s and 80s when land prices in Singapore spiked as the country’s economy gained competitiveness, he says.

Today, Singapore’s first black-and-white bungalow, built in 1898 on Gallop Road near the old horse racing track lies forgotten and has been in disrepair for the better half of the past century.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE TOUR GUIDENicknamed “Singapore’s walking dictionary,” Geraldene Lowe-Ismail, 72, (in red) has been taking tourists around Singapore for more than 40 years. “I talk about buildings, symbolism and also the trees. My tours are not very structured but I think that makes them more fun.”

The URA Department of Conservation, established in 1989, created guidelines to keep the charm and heritage of the black-and-white houses. The main ones are:

CONSERVATION GUIDELINES

All the best black-and-white houses don’t exist anymore.– JULIAN DAVISON, AUTHOR OF BLACK AND WHITE: THE SINGAPORE HOUSE FROM 1898-1941.

• The exterior façade of the main house must remain as it is i.e. black and white paint

• Residents can decorate the interior as they see fit but new fittings have to be stripped off when their leases end

• The original windows and doors are to be restored and retained

• The main house has to be kept intact while the outhouse can

Although guidelines are in place now, Dr. Davison feels they are still not enough.

“You have aircon now and install glass behind the shutters. It completely destroys the character of the building,” says the 55-year-old who calls himself a black-and-white purist.

Dr. Davison feels that windows are the eyes of the buildings. “If you change the windows, you lose its soul,” he says.

“When I look at the glass panes, it’s like they have cataracts.”

Air conditioning is another unwelcome modernism. “There was a woman who lived on Goodwood Hill who had one of the first air conditioners installed. When the first bombing raid came in 1941, the aircon was so loud they couldn’t hear the bombs falling,” he says with a laugh.

“Now when I go around looking at these tall modern buildings, I wonder if

be demolished to make way for minimal additions that do not affect the look of the main building

• Residents are encouraged to keep the verandas open as this adds to the originality of the building but are allowed to enclose the space with windows of approved material and design


Black and white enclavesThe black-and-white

houses are scattered

all around Singapore,

which have led to

the growth of large

expat communities

over the years. The

shaded areas also

highlight where

development is fast

changing the look of

the estates.

Mount Faber •

Planned as a tourist destination,

bungalows will be converted into bed and breakfast lodgings, culinary schools and arts housing

Gillman Barracks •

Now known as Gillman Village, British

officers used to live there and when they left, the Singapore Armed Forces moved in. The area is currently a small enclave of restaurants, pubs and furniture shops

• Dempsey Road

Once houses for the British Army, the Singapore Armed Forces took over in the 1970s and turned it into an enlistment center. Now, the area is full of hip restaurants and pubs

• Changi

The estate, near the Changi Air Base,

was used for the officers of the British Royal Air Force as well as the artillery unit and their families. The terraces and bungalows are now

rented out as homes

• Seletar Camp

Previously an air base for the British Royal Air Force, it is now made up of homes and office

space for the aerospace companies. A private airport sits within the estate

• Sembawang Park

Previously occupied by the British Naval Force in the 1900s, the bungalows are now rented out to a mostly expat community. Streets like Delhi Road, Pakistan Road and Kenya Road are named after British colonies

Portsdown Road •

A quiet little village of both bungalows and walk-up apartments which were once

British officers’ quarters, are now work lofts and homes

• Adam Park

The bungalows were used as both offices and homes during colonial times and is now

mostly residential. Once the site of an intense battle between the British and Japanese forces, today, a Japanese restaurant sits at the entrance of the mostly British neighborhood

Alexandra Park •

Once a British military estate, the

bungalows here housed generals and colonels and are now rented

out to a mostly expat community

• Goodwood Hill

In downtown Singapore, the massive bungalows come with long driveways

and sprawling gardens

Mount Pleasant •

The 33 bungalows with massive gardens housed senior colonial

administrators and are now

homes to an expat community

• Nepal Hill

Near research clusters such as Biopolis, Fusionopolis and the National University of Singapore, the area called LINK@Nepal

Hill is being developed by the Economic Development Board to house think-tanks

Rochester Park •

The 40 bungalows here date back to the 1940s and housed British

soldiers. Today, most are used as restaurants, bars, galleries and spas

ChangiInternational

Airport

CentralBusinessDistrict

JurongIndustrial Park

Bukit TimahNature Reserve


50 years down the road, will someone like me write about them?” says Dr. Davison, who grew up in a modest bungalow in Singapore, surrounded by kampongs (Malay word for village huts), farms and gardens.

“So I write about the past, to keep it alive. I think it’s important for people to remember where they came from.”

While he understands that Singapore needs more manpower to thrive, verdant spaces like those offered by black-and-whites should be safeguarded as they are precious commodity in the country’s increasingly urban landscape.

Winds of changeSingapore, led by pragmatic leaders is

run like a business. Every inch of space is maximized and conservation here reflects that mantra. The government ensures that conserved areas continue to be relevant and used.

Like a fort guarding the Alexandra Park estate, Eton Hall is an example of adaptive use of a historical building. Once an old nursing quarters for neighboring Alexandra Hospital, the three-story white colonial building with wood shutters has been transformed into a boarding house. Vacant for many years, the building now houses 150 foreign students.

Changi, another estate with colonial bungalows, is being rejuvenated. Right at the eastern end of the country, it has a laid-back vibe that attracts nature-goers. Marked as a “future hotspot” for development, there are plans to transform the area into a beach resort. The sleepy hollow now risks losing its old world charm.

Yet, the government is not deaf to the calls for conservation. Realizing that

AFFECTION FOR THE PASTJulian Davison’s study overlooking the garden of his walk-up apartment on Ridout Road is crammed with books on architecture styles around the world and Asian cultural history. The building he lives in now was built by his father in 1953, an architect for the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT).

relics of the colonial past are fast being effaced, the government has set out to gazette numerous buildings.

“There is a need to keep markers, to keep identity … and buildings reflect the history,” says URA Director of Conservation Teh Lai Yip.

“But what we conserve must not be in the way of infrastructure,” she adds, stating that some areas will have to go as the government also considers the economic impact of keeping such places.

While prewar buildings like the black-and-whites are significant, Lai Yip stresses that there is “only one Singapore” so the government has to look at the “big picture and long-term plan.”

“We take a very practical approach and we’re not apologetic about it,” she says.

New bohemia in old housesFor now though, the scene in

Portsdown is peaceful. Roads wind and wander between blocks of black-and-white houses that hug the curves of the earth. Rolling grasslands lead down to little valleys with streams. Mature, sturdy trees have hammocks strung between them, or the occasional tire swing on a hemp rope.

Every half an hour, a public bus rumbles down the quiet, uncrowded single roadway. It makes a turn at the end of the lane and rumbles out of the estate again.

The neighborhood still retains a colonial flavor from its military past as the 26 blocks of walk-up apartments on the grounds are named after famous British military adventures in Tangier, Flanders and Cambrai.

The area is undergoing its own renaissance as the old black-and-whites

If you change the windows, you lose its soul. – JULIAN DAVISON, 55, ON THE PHYSICAL ALTERATIONS MADE TO THE HOUSES.

We take a very practical approach and we’re not apologetic about it. – TEH LAI YIP, FROM URA DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION, ON BALANCING BOTH HERITAGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN SINGAPORE.


The sight of office workers with folded sleeves tucking into fish head curry served on a banana leaf is a

common scene during lunch time at Samy’s Curry, on Dempsey Road.

Samy’s was the first eatery to move in to a colonial building some 30 years ago.

In recent years, chic restaurants serving gourmet food have sprouted in Dempsey, making it one of Singapore’s new go-to destinations.

But Samy’s still receives its stream of regular customers who like its unpretentious old world style, which owner Maheyndran Veerasamy has kept the same since it first opened.

The soft whirring of ceiling fans and the lingering smell of Indian spices greet each customer.

The fight to stay onFor one thing, his rent has skyrocketed

from $230 in 1980 to $28,000 today.Now, he doubts whether his business

can stay there much longer.“We’re sitting on prime land here,” he

acknowledges, pointing in the direction of Orchard Road, Singapore’s main shopping strip, a mile away.

“We may continue for the next five or ten years, maybe. No one knows.”

Samy’s Curry is not alone. Over in Seletar Camp, William Toh,

clears up tables in his canteen. The lunch crowd has left and “Uncle William,” as the residents affectionately call him, takes a break at his favourite spot under an 80-year-old bodhi tree.

The canteen, a small shack-like structure with a zinc roof, has been a family business

PASSING ON THE TORCHMaheyndran Veerasamy’s daughter, Nagajyothi, 28, (right, with her mother) is being groomed by her father to one day take over the family business with her brother.

BITTERSWEET CELEBRATION

The Lunar New Year decorations put up

yearly by William Toh and his wife may be

hung for the last time as the clock ticks

down to the canteen’s eventual demolition in

the near future. “I close on Sundays but I still

come here, to sit around and enjoy the quiet,”

says William, 60.

“My customers told me to never air condition the place. They said if I did, they wouldn’t come back,” says Maheyndran, who took over the family business in 1982 after his father’s death.

“It would lose the identity. You can’t get this type of open-air, and high ceiling restaurant anywhere,” adds the 51-year-old.

When the British left, the barracks were used as a military enlistment center for the Singapore Army till late 1970s.

“And when they left, I was the only one running a business in the whole place,” says Maheyndran as he wipes the sweat off his brow.

With the area having undergone a big transformation after a private contractor took over the estate, Maheyndran says it has threatened his business.

for almost 50 years. The words “Block 398” – the name the canteen goes by – are spray painted on one wall.

“I took over in the 80s when my brother passed away but we had this since late 1950s,” he says.

William’s family home in the workers’ quarters, was demolished in the late 1970s.

He fears that history will repeat itself.With the construction of the Seletar

Aerospace Park, William, 60, is not sure if his canteen will remain.

Cleaning the old mosaic-tiled counter with a wet cloth, he says: “So far they’re building at the West Camp. They have not touched this side yet but maybe in one or two years.”

“They’ll demolish it. And if they open tender, I cannot compete with the bigger companies who will move in.”

PARK LIFEIn Portsdown, tree-lined sidewalks shade its blocks of

walk-up apartments from Singapore’s tropical heat. “I could live in a tent with one lightbulb and a bucket and be happier

than I would be if I’m surrounded by a million condominiums,” says Portsdown resident Geri Archer.


ARTS BEATKatherine McLeod, 46, (in purple) and Bruce Home, 42, (in beige) lead a drumming routine with several members of Camp Magic. “This is like a multi-purpose area,” says Katherine. The space is used for shows, rehearsals, meetings, trainings and even intimate workshops and performances. “The room does not look the same two days in a row,” she adds.

that once held British soldiers are now home to a flourishing artistic community.

Affectionately known as “Little Bohemia,” the estate counts a storyteller, a juggler, painters, writers, actors, and musicians among its eclectic mix of residents.

Canadians Katherine McLeod and her husband Bruce Home are among the creative people who have moved in. She is a writer and illustrator, he is a painter and teacher. And they drum together during their Camp Magic sessions, an arts-based holiday program for children.

“There is a sense of freedom here ... there’s space,” says Katherine, 46, a classic wayfarer.

Being travelers at heart, they went where the wind took them, she says. After cycling around Western Europe for two-and-a-half years on their honeymoon, they hitchhiked their way down Italy.

They continued globe-trotting around Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, before finally landing themselves in Southeast Asia. “For us, it’s not about doing things in the order of the universe,” she says.

After years of thinking they were “still not ready to buy that refrigerator,” Katherine and her family have now taken root here.

A stroll down Portsdown’s narrow, meandering lanes underscores how vibrant the estate has become.

In the evenings, the air is filled with the sound of drumming circles held in Katherine’s apartment.

Along another stretch on Whitchurch Road, outdoor rehearsals take place in the overgrown tropical lawns of the black-and-whites.

On Thursday evenings, The Stage Club holds an open social event where anyone can walk in, don a costume and participate in its practice session. Formed in 1945, it prides itself as Singapore’s oldest amateur theater group.

Its 150-member group is made up of expats of all stripes such as bankers, lawyers and homemakers and they come together to stage at least four productions

each year. From musicals and classic plays, they also perform pantomimes and French comedies.

A further 10-minute walk reveals a lone tree with colorful childlike ornaments haphazardly hanging from its bare branches, giving a glimpse into the goings-on of the three-story colonial apartment behind it.

Inside, founders of Centre Stage School of the Arts, Peter Hodgson and Alison Tompkins are prepping the children for their final rehearsal of Lord of the Flies. The couple landed in Singapore in 1995 after traveling around India. They have been running acting workshops, dance courses and early childhood programs for toddlers for more than 10 years.

Elsewhere in Portsdown, art galleries and photography studios like Fringe Benefits, d’Art Studio and Geeleinan have burgeoned. This is in part due to heightened government efforts who realized the area’s potential and decided to turn it into an artist hub some five years ago.

Landlords JTC Corporation has envisioned it as “a place where the gathering of diverse and creative minds will engender a bohemian culture that transcends norms and boundaries.” Four blocks of walk-up apartments have been converted into 24 experimental lofts to house the art nouveau.

And it has attracted just that. With art walks and open houses organized on certain weekends, art enthusiasts are seen hopping from one studio to another,

A place where the gathering of diverse and creative minds will engender a bohemian culture that transcends norms and boundaries. – JTC CORPORATION’S PROPOSAL FOR PORTSDOWN’S FUTURE.

There is a sense of freedom here ... there’s space. – KATHERINE MCLEOD, ON WHY SHE CHOSE TO LIVE IN PORTSDOWN.


ROOM WITH A VIEWThe peaceful and lush foliage that surrounds these 20th-century buildings makes for a source of inspiration. The eaves of Michael Corbidge’s balcony act as a rainbreak and he enjoys a lot of his writing in the “light and airy” space. “I like the fact that when you leave the house, and look back up, you can’t really see it because it’s just covered in green,” says the 50-year-old.

surveying works hung on the inside walls and trying their hands on sculpting and printmaking.

Indeed, Portsdown is well on its way to becoming Singapore’s version of New York’s SoHo district in its heyday. “It happens all around the world … in any big city,” says Katherine, referring to other enclaves like the Latin Quarter in Paris and the Annex in her hometown Toronto back in the 1920s.

Not that it was not already one.In search of cheap loft spaces in

Singapore, artists from all over have settled in Portsdown since the 1990s. This melting pot of cross-cultures has long existed before the government took notice.

“We didn’t really want to be singled out,” says Michael Corbidge, alluding to the “eccentric” cultural village label that has been stamped on the estate.

It was this old style of living amid greenery untouched by urbanization that attracted Michael, one of the first artists to embrace Portsdown.

“When I moved in, this place was derelict,” says the member of the U.K. Royal Shakespeare Company. “It was full of leaves, full of natural squatters – snails, birds, cockroaches – and I was the only person in this entire block for years.”

The 50-year-old came to Singapore on a whim 13 years ago after he saw a posting in the London Times for a senior speech and drama teacher. “The advert was just a little box. And I knew when I saw that box I would be here. It’s been a huge, huge adventure since.”

Classically trained as an actor and

teacher, Michael’s foray as a writer, poet, children’s author, and artistic director reflects his broad portfolio and varied interests.

Yet, Michael, Katherine, and their artisan friends may represent a final blossoming of unexpected life among these black-and-white houses. They feel that their cultural pursuits, once inspired by Portsdown’s energy and grit, may fall victim to the commercialization that has overtaken much of the neighborhood.

Portsdown risks losing its luster as waves of gentrification sweep in. The area, once considered a ghetto, is fast becoming one of the highest rent districts on the outskirts of the city center.

And this may well cause a quiet exodus of residents who see the value of the charming estate fading away.

High-rises are coming up around its perimeter.

On the northern end of Portsdown, twin international complexes for biomedical and engineering research – Biopolis and Fusionopolis – have gone up recently. Proper roads and parking lots are now in place, a new underground train station is set to run later this year.

More development is chipping away at its borders as dust and debris are the only remains from the old army barracks nearby.

In its place, Mediapolis@one-north will rise over the next nine years. The media hub, the size of 30 soccer fields, will house hangar-like film studios, business parks and high-rise offices.

For over 50 years, Colbar, an expat (Continued on page 50)

I knew when I saw that box I would be here. It’s been a huge, huge adventure since. – MICHAEL CORBIDGE, ON HIS DECISION TO COME TO SINGAPORE.

ICON OF COLONIAL TIMESFormerly at Jalan Hang Jebat, the Colbar, short for “Colonial Bar,” now

sits in Whitchurch Road, on Portsdown estate. Opened in 1953 as a canteen for the British soldiers, it is run by an elderly Chinese couple.

Back in 2003, the construction of a major semi-expressway threatened to close down the establishment. But the Portsdown community,

mostly long-term expat residents, rallied to save it. The government then moved it brick-by-brick to its current place, 800 yards away. Today, the place, which has retained its original clay roof tiles and

timber swing doors, still packs a loyal crowd who heads down to the eatery after a weekly rugby game for a round of cheap beers.


NOISEThe serenity that surrounds the estate has been replaced by the steady dull thuds of construction on the western end where the new Mediapolis@one-north will stand.

LUXURY OF SPACEOn the eastern side of the estate, residents take their pets for a walk down the rolling hills where there is space to roam. On Sundays, churchgoers from The Church of the Blessed Sacrament nearby congregate in the park for a picnic.

50 BLACK AND WHITES

A SLICE OF PARADISEThick foliage surrounds this house

that sits on Malcolm Road. “The houses are a very Singaporean

landmark, a part of your history, yet, they’re not really loved by Singapore

because so many of them are destined to come down,” says British

painter and author Jane Walker.

I hope the authorities preserve them, and just don’t develop too fast. If it’s working, don’t change it.– REBECCA BISSET, 48, ON KEEPING THE BLACK-AND-WHITES.

Singaporeans who come here feel like they’re in another planet. – ALEXANDER BROWN, 65, ON LOCALS’ PERCEPTION OF PORTSDOWN.

hangout on Portsdown, has provided a brief reprieve for locals from the hustle and bustle of the city. Now, it is neighbor to a building site.

Sitting in his usual table at Colbar, Alexander Brown, 65, sips his pint of Tiger Beer. For the past three decades, the retired teacher has been walking from his home to the watering hole where he wiles away his evenings.

Once viewed as Singapore’s “best kept secret,” Colbar, a canteen that previously served British servicemen is now a restaurant destination for businessmen and office workers from all around town.

“Singaporeans who come here feel like they’re in another planet. They go

‘Whoa!’” says Alexander. Taking another sip of his beer, he adds scornfully: “Come on, it’s your freaking country.”

But nothing stands still. The cherished landscape will be reshaped.

Looking over at the construction 400 yards away where excavators have moved in, Alexander says: “Singapore always has to build infrastructure, it always has to do things, for the benefit of its people.”

Thirteen miles away from the Portsdown battleground, from the perspective of seeing her own backyard torn apart by construction, Rebecca Bisset observes how part of Singapore’s lure in attracting foreign talent is diminishing.

While Hong Kong is high-rise and crowded, Shanghai polluted, people come to Singapore because they can have “a bit of space,” says Rebecca, who has lived in eight countries.

Sitting on the patio of her Seletar black-and-white overlooking her

swimming pool, she says: “If you get rid of this kind of lifestyle, you get rid of some top people too.”

These colonial estates were once the site of conflict and warfare during the Japanese occupation. Now, they are modern-day battlegrounds as they fight for their place in the city-state. The black-and-whites, which have weathered World War II and Singapore’s postindependence years, may finally be claimed by the nation’s thirst to develop more industries for greater economic gains.

Rebecca acknowledges that these changes are not unique to the island-state, but she still rues the loss of the magical spaces that the black-and-white bungalows offer in Singapore.

“I hope the authorities preserve them, and just don’t develop too fast. If it’s working, don’t change it,” she says.

“Why make it like any other city in the world? Make it like an Eden, don’t make it like another Gotham City.”


FINAL SAY AFTERWORD

The black-and-whites have been a part of Singapore’s landscape for longer than the country has

been independent. But locals see these buildings and the history attached to them as separate from their shared past.

Back in the old days, these houses in their grandiose and imposing manner act as a physical barrier between the locals and their colonial “masters” who lived in them.

This barrier still exists today. For many of us flat-dwelling

Singaporeans, we see these colonial houses all around the island, admire them, possibly even dreamt of living in one. Yet, we know so little about them. Instead, we hide behind a veil of ignorance, simply content with enjoying them from a comfortable distance. Or by merely attaching stories of supernatural happenings to them.

And this veil, both physical and psychological, is what we are trying to lift with these stories.

As these colonial bungalows are torn down, we wanted to rekindle the light on them that has faded.

Factually, there are very much a Singaporean landmark: The British did not import the black-and-whites to any other colony besides Malaysia – understandably, since we were once part of Malaya.

But the lack of esteem towards them vis-à-vis other historical architecture seems baffling, disappointing even. Perhaps Singaporeans can better associate with shophouses, churches, temples and mosques, which are more characteristic of the nation’s landmarks.

Singapore, being a young country

appears to have embarked on a path to reinvent itself. Rising from “mudflats to metropolis,” according to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong earlier this year, the country has left behind its kampong beginnings, superseded by towering glass-and-steel buildings.

Rapid modernization is a powerful Singaporean narrative that has allowed the emerging nation to become one of Asia’s leading cities.

However, by constantly developing and redeveloping areas, the city-state is at risk of painting over its history. With black-and-whites increasingly subjected to cost-benefit analysis, there is a sense of revolt against a culture cringe – the inferiority complex of people once under colonial rule – as the government and the populace pay scant attention to the fate of these early 20th-century relics.

While many countries look to Singapore as one of the world’s success stories, we can also learn a thing or two from urban cities like New York and London where there is greater understanding of history and culture, with conservation guidelines for old houses and greenery well established.

Singapore is approaching its half-century. The time has come for the nation to engage in a parallel commitment to conservation as to progress before it loses its rich heritage, leaving little for future generations to experience.

Through our year-long journey with the black-and-whites, we hope that by peeling back the layers and uncovering the lives and stories attached to these houses, we succeeded in making them the heroes once more before they are all lost.

Michael Jackson built the black-and-white houses, because he made a song about black and whites.

– ALANA HAMBLY, 9, REFERRING TO THE KING OF POP’S HIT SINGLE BLACK OR WHITE.

The plumbing can be terrible and there are geckos but the English don’t seem to mind it.

– AUDRIE CLARKE, ON THE PROBLEMS OF LIVING IN A BLACK-AND-WHITE HOUSE.

The average Singaporean lives in a flat, runs after the MRT, nobody has time to reflect and dream anymore.

– GERALDENE LOWE-ISMAIL, ON THE TYPICAL SINGAPOREAN PSYCHE.

Keeping a tiny section as a gesture is not quite the same as keeping it in

its entirety. It is out of the way, but it doesn’t make it any less important.– ANDY TEAR, ON THE GOVERNMENT RETAINING ONLY SOME OF THE HOUSES IN SELETAR.

Some residents view themselves as guardians of the house. So it’s very much a historical process.

– LISA MULLER, ON THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN BLACK-AND-WHITES.

You have to choose your own battles.– CHUA AI LIN, ON THE POSITION OF PRESERVATION ACTIVISTS HERE.

Hope I do not have to move, as my roots are far too deep.– SUKUMAR A. SINNIAH, RESIDENT OF PORTSDOWN FOR 31 YEARS.

I could stay in it for more than 10 years without the need for air conditioning.

But the minute I move into an HDB flat, I can’t live without aircon. It’s quite

sensitive of the architects to plan for our tropical environment.– NARY CHEA, ARCHITECT WHO RESTORED KHOO KEN HEE’S HOUSE, ON HOW CLEVERLY THE

BLACK-AND-WHITES WERE DESIGNED.

The history that is attached to each house makes them unique.– DEREK CORKE, ON WHAT DIFFERENTIATES THE BLACK-AND-WHITES.

The different styles of black-and-whites (clockwise from top left) Post-World War I (1921) Late Arts & Crafts (1922) Arts & Craft (1903) Tropical Edwardian (1905)

Sketches by Julian Davison

Alex HamblyAlexander Brown

Alexandra De MelloAlison Tompkins

Andy TearAudrie Clarke

Bruce HomeCaroline Essame

David MayoDerek Corke

Dr. Chua Ai LinDr. Julian Davison

Edwin ShearesGeraldene Lowe-Ismail

Geri ArcherGuy MasonJane Mayo

Jane WalkerJanis Khoo

Jayanthi Siva-LecolleyJonathan Cooper

Katherine McLeod

Singapore Land Authority

Urban Redevelopment Authority

SPECIAL THANKS TOTHE PEOPLE WHO SHARED THEIR STORIES AND

BROUGHT US INTO THEIR BEAUTIFUL HOMES

GRAPHICS

MENTORfor his continuous guidance,

belief and allowing us into his world.

Keh Peng LeongKhoo Ken HeeLisa MullerMaheyndran VeerasamyMichael CorbidgeMichael NgMirna Barakat-BrownMohamad YasinMr. and Mrs. Lim of ColbarNagajyothi MaheyndranNary CheaPeter HodgsonRamlah SulaimanRebecca BissetStellar ChongSonny ChanSukumar A.SinniahSusan AmySusie BarridgeTim DoreWilliam TohZak Towle

Margaret CheeCho Chui Wai

Loy Ju-LinTeh Lai Yip

Muhammad Haziq

Mr. Andrew Duffy

FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR THEIR UNWAVERING SUPPORT

Documents

Black & Whites: The Battleground