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\nThe old HDB flats on Stirling Road are still there today, a tell-tale sign of Queenstown\u2019s long history. (Photos: Cheryl Marie Tay)
\nSingapore\u2019s oldest satellite town has kept up with the times and seen many modern developments spring up across it. But even it progresses, pockets of history are still visible throughout the estate, and it is this mix of old and new that attracts many to Queenstown.
\nby Cheryl Marie Tay
\nSingapore may be only 51 years old, but its history began much earlier than 1965. And as the country\u2019s oldest satellite town, Queenstown has certainly seen plenty of changes over the years.
\nLocated on the south-westernmost edge of central Singapore, its very name is a rather transparent reference to Singapore\u2019s heritage as a former British colony. Indeed, Queenstown was so christened after the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, to mark her coronation in 1952.
\nThanks to the estate\u2019s obvious association with British royalty, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a stop in Queenstown during their visit to Singapore in September 2012.
\nThe estate is surrounded by Bukit Merah on its eastern and south-eastern sides, Bukit Timah on its northern side, Clementi on its western and north-western sides, Selat Pandan on its southern and south-western sides, and Tanglin on its north-eastern side.
\nIts 16 subzones include Buona Vista, Commonwealth, Dover, Ghim Moh, Holland Drive, Kent Ridge, Margaret Drive, Mei Chin, Pasir Panjang, Portsdown, Queensway and Tanglin Halt, while its main housing estates include Duchess Estate, Princess Estate and Queen\u2019s Close.
\nA village in a valley
\nBefore the 1950s, Queenstown was merely a swampy valley flanked by hills, with a rubber plantation on one side and a cemetery on the other. There was also a village in the area, called Bo Beh Kang, which was populated mainly by Hokkien- and Teochew-speaking inhabitants in attap huts.
\nUntil 1942, these residents grew vegetables and fruits and reared chickens and pigs for a living. In 1947, however, the Housing Committee of Singapore published a report highlighting the problem of inadequate housing in the country.
\nAs a solution, the report proposed having Singapore\u2019s population decentralised away from city areas by establishing self-contained suburban residential estates. This was supposedly influenced by post-war Britain\u2019s New Town initiative.
\nA successful start
\nThe Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) eventually chose Queenstown for housing development, thanks to its proximity to Singapore\u2019s first public housing project, Tiong Bahru, which had proven to be a success.
\nThe construction of Queenstown\u2019s first public housing neighbourhood, Princess Margaret Estate (named after Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s younger sister), commenced in July 1952, with a preliminary batch of three-room flats ready for occupation by late 1953.
\nThis grew to over 1,000 one-, two- and three-room flats and 68 terrace houses by 1956, and included the 14-storey Forfar House, which was the tallest HDB block in Singapore then. It was considered such a prominent landmark at the time, there was even a ceremony held in October 1956 in its honour.
\nSimply known as Block 39, it contained 106 three-room flats, four stores and a kopitiam. However, 40 years after it was first built, it was demolished under the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).
\nQueenstown was fully developed as a public housing estate by 1970, and its success led to Buona Vista and Holland Village following the same route.
\nInto the 21st century
\nToday, Queenstown is still a thriving, self-sustaining residential estate. Its demographics have shifted somewhat since it was built, with more senior citizens residing in the area now than in most other estates in Singapore. They live mostly in the older two- and three-room HDB flats in the area.<\/p>\n