60 years of Our Singapore Housing

Margaret Drive is located at Duchess Estate in Queenstown where the past SIT flats were built back in the 1950s. However, the estate was only completed in 1970 because some of last SIT flats were under construction when HDB took over the construction of flats in 1960. For the first 10 years of HDB, newer and high-rise flats together with a cinema, shopping complex and food centre were being built which even gained reputation for its famous food stalls. Unfortunately, these old flats and amenities were demolished in 2011 in order to rejuvenate Dawson Estate. The newly completed Tah Chung Emporium, 1967 Block 39A where the bird-singing corner used to be located built in 1969 The iconic Block 6C where ramps were installed for skateboarders to practice and hang out Another 12-storey block within the vicinity of Margaret Drive, 1969 Margaret Drive Food Centre once famous for its long-serving Sin Kee Chicken Rice, Popiah and Fishball Noodles

Mei Ling Street Estate was the sixth neighborhood built in Queenstown in the late 1960s. The site of land at Mei Ling and Stirling Road used to be a Chinese cemetery until the graves were exhumed to make way for new flats. Unlike the 3-room standard flats built in other districts of Queenstown, the newer Improved flats with a kitchen extension and a separate bathroom and toilet were the second batch of flats built after Toa Payoh. By 1970, public facilities like the Swimming Complex, Japanese Garden and Stadium were built for the convenience of residents who can do their healthy exercises and breathe in fresh air. There used to be one-room flats in Mei Ling Street which they have been demolished in the 1990s to make way for newer and bigger executive flats. Today, the executive flats are worth at least $1 million. Newly constructed 16-storey 3-room flats, 1968  When lifts used to stop at alternate floors of the block Newly completed 2-room flats, 1968 The 1-room flat

People's Park used to be an open public park at the foot of Pearl's Hill in Chinatown which is one of Singapore's most populous districts and later became People's Park Market until a fire destroyed the place on Christmas Eve in 1966. Shortly after, the HDB decided to rebuild the Market as part of Urban Renewal and rehouse all the stallholders. The new shopping cum residential complex was completed in 1968 with the shops and stallholders moving in and resumed their businesses. Today, People's Park Food Centre became a favorite visit of many tourists from Southeast Asia with the food stalls at the ground floor together with retail and textiles shops on the 2nd and 3rd levels. People's Park Food Centre in Park Road, 1968 Food stalls at the ground floor Retail shops on the 2nd and 3rd levels A childcare centre at the roof deck of People's Park Food Centre, 1968 Residential units at the background 

Other than the VIP block at Commonwealth Close in Queenstown, the other iconic VIP block in Singapore is located at Block 53 in Lorong 5 Toa Payoh, also known as the Y-shaped block due to it's design. When it was built in 1967, it was the tallest HDB block in the estate at that time, standing at 19 storeys tall. Over the next few years, the block gained reputation with overseas leaders including the British monarch Queen Elizabeth II visiting some residents and having a panoramic view of Singapore through the rooftop until one of the 25-storey point blocks in Toa Payoh Central became the next VIP block replacing the Y-shaped building. The newly-completed 19-storey 3-room flats at the Y-shaped block, 1967 Australian Prime Minister John Gorton (far right) visiting the VIP block, 1968 Malta's Prime Minister Giorgio Borg Olivier (centre) when he visited Singapore on a state visit, 1968 The Prime Minister of Bangladesh Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike shaking hands with a r

Outram Park Complex used to be the site of Outram Prison for more than a century before it was demolished in 1966 to make way for this housing project as part of the Urban Renewal Scheme. It was one of the first complex to have a mixture of residential units and commercial shops in the Central Business District Area. A total of 12 16-storey blocks were all connected to form a shopping complex with 2 multi-storey carparks located at each end of the estate. They were completed between 1968 and 1970 before the-then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew officiated its opening. However, in the late 1990s, the complex was selected under the SERS en-bloc scheme and the residents were being relocated to new flats at Cantonment Towers in Tanjong Pagar. These blocks were painted in shades of rainbow before its demolition in 2003 and the land has been kept vacant since. Outram Prison, 1963 Demolition of Outram Prison and Outram Park Complex flats under construction, 1967 Newly-completed 16-st

During the 2nd Five-Year Plan between 1965 and 1970, about 95,000 of Singapore's population moved into the new flats at Toa Payoh with a total of around 18,000 units. It is the first HDB Estate to introduce the Improved flats for 3 room units where each flat has an extension of the kitchen and balcony together with a separate bathroom and toilet. Such flats in those days cost $7500. New 16-storey flats at Lorong 3 and low-rise flats with a wet market at Lorong 4 Toa Payoh, 1967 2-room flats at Blk 120 Lorong 2 Toa Payoh, 1967 The newly constructed Food Centre at Lorong 5 Toa Payoh, 1967 10-storey flats at Toa Payoh Rise, 1968 One of the tallest flats in Lorong 2 Toa Payoh, 1968 New flats at Lorong 1 Toa Payoh in the vicinity of Braddell MRT station, 1968 An aerial view of Lorong 1 Toa Payoh from Kampong San Theng, 1968 Newly built 5 Food Centres near Blk 127 Market in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, 1969 The iconic dragon statue in front of Block 91, 1969 New