Tiong Bahru means “new cemetery”, a mix of Hokkien and Malay, but its 1930s Art Deco flats now house cafés, bookshops and bakeries alongside long-time residents.
The Singapore Improvement Trust completed more than 780 flats here between 1936 and 1941. Architect Alfred G. Church gave the walk-ups streamlined Art Deco lines, and locals nicknamed them “aeroplane flats”. The Urban Redevelopment Authority conserved 20 blocks in 2003. Block 55, at Tiong Bahru Road and Tiong Poh Road, was the first block built in the estate, one of Singapore’s oldest residential neighbourhoods.
Tiong Bahru Market opened in 1951 as Seng Poh Road Market and was rebuilt in 2004–2006. A wet market fills the ground floor; upstairs, 85 cooked-food stalls are at their best at breakfast, with chwee kueh rice cakes, chee cheong fun and yam cake, plus Bib Gourmand stalls for pig’s organ soup and chicken rice. Go early, then walk the estate before the heat builds.
