60 years of Our Singapore Housing

Macpherson is the one of the oldest HDB Estates located in the East. The earliest flats are located at Merpati Road which were built in 1961. Most of these flats are 1-room and 2-room with rents costing $20 and $40 respectively. Currently, only the flats located at Block 12-14 are existing. Merpati Road flats under construction The newly completed 3 blocks of 2-room 10 storey flats  2-storey shophouses 3-storey blocks of 1-room flats A typical 1960s children's playground on the left To know more about the development of Macpherson Estate, click  here

Queen's Close and Queen's Crescent flats were built in 1961. It was the fifth neighbourhood to be built at Queenstown. These flats were of H-shaped design with 7 storeys tall. However, these flats were left standing for around 30 years before they were demolished in the 1990s to build more new houses due to redevelopment plans. Queen's Crescent flats under construction Queenstown Neighbourhood V at Quuen's Crescent HDB terrace houses at Queen's Crescent The completed H-shaped 7-storey blocks at Queen's Crescent The earliest flats at Queenstown were built in Princess Estate in Strathmore and Dawson Road in the 1950s when HDB's predecessor, the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) flats were located. After HDB took over the construction of public housing flats, 3 blocks in Stirling Road at Block 45, 48 and 49 were built in 1960. In the next 5 years, new flats at Tanglin Halt, Commonwealth and Queen's Close were completed.

A typical primary school building built by the Ministry of Education(MOE) in the 1960s can be found in most mature estates like Queenstown, Toa Payoh, Bukit Ho Swee and MacPherson. It consist of a 4-storey H-shaped building with the side wings connected by the toilets in between and the flag pole marks the divide at the ground level. There are a total of 24 classrooms with students from the morning and afternoon sessions sharing the same classroom. Due to the population boom at that time, a level cohort consist of 8 classes with 44 students each. Today, due to changing times and improvements to the new school buildings, these old buildings were either holding schools for schools undergoing rebuilding and renovations or used as commercial businesses. A newly-completed primary school building in Bukit Ho Swee Estate, 1962 Pei Chun Public School in Toa Payoh, 1970 Jubilee Primary School in West Coast, 1967 Tanjong Rhu Integrated Primary School during the official ope

After the massive fire which made 16,000 people homeless in May 1961, our late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew gave the fire victims assurance that within 9 months, they will have their new flats to live in. In September 1961, he declared the opening of the new Bukit Ho Swee Estate. The development of Bukit Ho Swee fire site, 1961 Our then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declaring the opening of a new estate Part of the crowd during the opening ceremony Majority of the newly completed flats consist of 1-room emergency flats and 2-room flats at Bukit Ho Swee and Tiong Bahru New flats under construction in Kampong Tiong Bahru  An aerial view of Tiong Bahru HDB flats New flats at Jalan Membina Open spaces between these buildings 9-storey flats at Tiong Bahru The government medical clinic in Tiong Bahru which opened in 1961

The Bukit Ho Swee Fire, which occurred in the afternoon of 25th May 1961, was the biggest fire outbreak in Singapore's history. However, the cause of the fire was never established. A total of 4 people died in the massive fire, 2,800 homes were destroyed and more than 16,000 people were homeless overnight. Shortly after the disaster, the government declared a national state of emergency. The temporary relief centres for the fire victims were located in schools of the area. However, as the conditions there were unsanitary, the government gave priority plans to rehouse victims into newly built flats where some of them were resettled in Tiong Bahru and Queenstown. For the next 9 months, the HDB built the first 5 blocks of 768 flats which is considered a pivotal point in the development of public housing of Singapore. A 1988 SBC local documentary "Diary of the Nation" with the survivors sharing their experiences. To look at the de