Tras Street

Background

Tras Street runs between Enggor Street and Cook Street in Tanjong Pagar.¹ It was extended in 1924 up to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.² It was named in 1898 after a Malaysian town called Tras,³ in accordance with an 1898 municipal resolution to “use names of rivers and districts in the Malay Peninsula as being better adapted to the naming of streets”.⁴  

Description
First built in 1829, the Hong San See Temple was once located at Tras Street.⁵ Hokkiens from the Nanan clan from Fujian, China frequented this temple.⁶ A road widening project in 1908 involving government acquisition of the temple’s site resulted in its relocation to Mohamed Sultan Road. Tras Street was also the site of the Chinese Kindergarten School located within Kindergarten Building, which was officially opened in 1927.⁷

Tras Street is lined with many shophouses, many of which are two- and three-storey buildings.⁸ As part of the Tanjong Pagar Conservation Area, and with its location in the historic district of Chinatown, efforts are underway to bring back the old charm of Chinatown to Tras Street. These shophouses, some of which are conserved pre-war buildings, are homes to shops, eateries, pubs, boutiques and offices. Vacant tracts of land and unrestored shophouses were sold in the 1990s, which resulted in a handful of commercial enterprises on the street today.⁹ Buildings found on the street include Lian Huat Building, Union Building, Hotel Amara Singapore, Sunshine Hotel and Maxwell House.

Owned by Amara Hotel Properties, the Amara Shopping Centre was revamped and rebranded as 100 AM (AM pronounced as “em”) in 2012. Located near Tanjong Pagar MRT, the four-storey mall is the only fully developed shopping mall in the west-end of the Central Business District.¹⁰

Variant names
Chinese names: Cho-su kong khau (Hokkien); Cho-sz kong and zu shi gong kou (Cantonese), meaning “Mouth of the Cho Su Kong temple”,¹¹ refer to the Hong San See Temple.



Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References
1. Mighty Minds Street Directory, 24th ed. (Singapore: Angel Publishing Pte Ltd, 2014), map 132D. (Call no. RSING 912.5957 MMSD-[DIR])
2. “Untitled,” Straits Times, 14 October 1924, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
3. Peter K. G. Dunlop, Street Names of Singapore (Singapore: Who’s Who Publishing, 2000), 313. (Call no. RSING 959.57 DUN-[HIS])
4. H. W. Firmstone, “Chinese Names of Streets and Places in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 42 (February 1905): 136–37. (Call no. RQUIK 959.5 JMBRAS)
5. Dhoraisingam S. Samuel, Singapore's Heritage: Through Places of Historical Interest (Singapore: Dhoraisingam S. Samuel, 2010), 346. (Call no. RSING 959.57 SAM-[HIS])
6. Josephine James, “Work on Oldest Monastery Completed,” Straits Times, 5 October 2001, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
7. “Untitled,” Straits Times, 29 June 1927, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
8. Norman Edwards and Keys Peter, Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (Singapore: Times Books International, 1988), 474. (Call no. RSING 915.957 EDW-[TRA])
9. Kalpana Rashiwala, “Goei Group Clinches Half of Shophouses at URA Auction,” Straits Times, 22 September 1994, 39. (From NewspaperSG)
10. Lennard Ong, “Strong Interest in Tanjong Pagar Mall,” Straits Times, 3 March 2012, 21 (From NewspaperSG); “About Us,” 100 AM, accessed 14 June 2016.
11. Victor R. Savage and Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2013), 387. (Call no. RSING 915.9570014 SAV-[TRA])



The information in this article is valid as at 2018 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.