Penang Road

Background

Penang Road begins as an offshoot from Orchard Road and ends at the junction of Somerset Road and Killiney Road.¹ It was named after a northeastern city in Peninsular Malaysia.² Landmarks along the road include the House of Tan Yeok Nee, the Singapore Shopping Centre, Winsland House and Oxley House.

History
Constructed and named in 1906, Penang Road once served the traffic from Tank Road to the railway bridge at Fort Canning Road.³

Key features
Situated near Orchard Road, Penang Road today is part of Singapore’s commercial and shopping hub. It runs behind the Istana Park and is connected to the Dhoby Ghaut Mass Rapid Transit Station through an underpass.⁴

Located at the junction of Penang Road and Clemenceau Avenue is the House of Tan Yeok Nee. The heritage building was leased to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business till 2015.⁵

Built in 1972, the Cockpit Hotel was demolished in 2002 to make way for a commercial cum residential project.⁶

Other landmarks on Penang Road are the Winsland House and Oxley House. Comprising two buildings designated as Winsland House I and II, Winsland House is a commercial property rented out to various enterprises.⁷ Oxley House, which used to house the Dubliner Irish Pub, is made up of a pair of two-storey semi-detached houses.⁸ For preserving its original shophouse features, it was a winner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority architectural heritage award in 2002.⁹

Park Mall was built in 1971 and originally named Supreme House. It became a well-known furniture and lifestyle shopping centre after major refurbishment in 1991. With the change in ownership in 2015, it is to be redeveloped into an office building by end 2019.¹⁰

In 1975, the building on Penang Road which housed the Metro Toyland and Bargain Centre was demolished to make way for the current Singapore Shopping Centre.¹¹



Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References
1. Mighty Minds Street Directory (Singapore: Angel Publishing Pte Ltd., 2015), maps 110C–110D. (Call no. RSING 912.5957 MMSD)
2. Victor R. Savage and Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2013), 293. (Call no. RSING 915.9570014 SAV-[TRA])
3. Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 293.
4. Mighty Minds Street Directory, map 110D; Richard Ng, “Under-Used Underpass,” Straits Times, 14 August 1984, 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Clarissa Oon, “Oasis in the City,” Straits Times, 26 August 2012, 6–7; Kalpana Rashiwala, “Next Change for House of Tan Yeok Nee: TCM Centre,” Business Times, 5 February 2016. (From NewspaperSG)
6. Norman Edwards and Peter Keys, Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (Singapore: Times Books International, 1988), 230 (Call no. RSING 915.957 EDW-[TRA]); Vladimir Guevarra, “Landmark Cockpit Hotel to Be a Thing of the Past Soon,” Straits Times, 5 October 2002, 32. (From NewspaperSG)
7. “Pub Delights,” Straits Times, 20 July 2002, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
8. Tay Suan Ching, “Housing a New Purpose,” Business Times, 28 March 2015, 2–3. (From NewspaperSG)
9. “Old Shophouses Get Condo Facilities,” Straits Times, 11 July 2002, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
10. “Park Mall to Be Redeveloped into Office Building By End-2019,” Today, 26 January 2017, 10; Doreen Siow, “Metro among Those Bidding for Anchor Space in Park Mall,” Straits Times, 2 November 1990, 39. (From NewspaperSG)
11. “New $17M Shopping Plan,” New Nation, 1 September 1975, 4; Catherine Ong, “Occupancy Licence for ABC Housing,” Business Times, 20 November 1980, 1 (From NewspaperSG); Edwards and Keys, Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places, 234.



The information in this article is valid as of 2015 and correct as far as we are able to 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.