Eu Tong Sen Street

History
Jalan Bukit Merah and Kampong Bahru Road meet to form a single major road that later branches into two parallel roads, Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road. Eu Tong Sen Street leads to Clarke Quay before ending at Coleman Bridge at the junction of Hill Street, Fort Canning Rise and Coleman Street. EuTong Sen Street was not always known by this name. It was previously called Wayang Street. It was renamed in 1919 after Eu Tong Sen, and there are two explanations to why the street was attributed to him. One is that it was in recognition of his contributions of a tank and a scout fighter plane to further the British efforts in World War I. The other reason was that Eu Tong Sen rebuilt the street and bought over two existing Chinese opera theatres (Heng Seng Peng and Heng Wai Sun, now the People's Park Complex). An 8-lane carriageway was constructed in the late 1980s to merge New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street. Eu Tong Sen Street, endowed with early historical roots, was the meeting place for Chinese immigrants. To them, the clan associations, movie theatres, Chinese herbal shops and other places of interest made this street a home away from home. Its popularity has not waned even with the moving of old landmarks to other places, and Chinese new year decorations every year make the street more vibrant than ever. Giant, flashy advertising boards were allowed to be put up on this street from 2002 onwards.

Description
Yue Hwa Department Store was formerly the Great Southern Hotel. The hotel, built in 1936, was the first Chinese hotel to have a lift. The building was also popularly known as Nam Tin (in Cantonese, meaning "Southern Sky"). As a department store now, it is a good place to buy imported Chinese goods. This conserved building, the tallest building in Chinatown in the 1930s, won a heritage award in 1997. People's Park Complex, built in 1970, was a retail shopping centre until 1973, when flats were added to it to make it a shopping-cum-residential complex. The first building in Southeast Asia with such feature, the complex provided a model that has been copied throughout the region. The former Thong Chai Medical Institution was built in 1892, largely through the contributions of the Malaccan born philanthropist, Gan Eng Seng. It was the best known of the Chinese charity medical centres. Thong Chai means benefit to all, and here was where traditional Chinese doctors (sinsehs) gave out free treatment to all races in Singapore. A national monument since 1973, it was earlier rented out as an arts and crafts centre before it was sold. It is currently a restaurant-cum-bar. The former Majestic Theatre was extensively re-furbished in 2002 but the front wall of the old building was conserved. Originally built in 1927 by Eu Tong Sen, it was then called Tien Yien Moh Toi and was famous for Cantonese operas. It was named Queen's Theatre and then renamed Majestic Theatre. This function holds no longer as the renovated building has come back to the street scene as a retail mall. Other buildings found in the area are the Furama Hotel, a distinctively palm-shaped structure, and Yangtze Building, which was renovated and upgraded in the 1990s into a business centre-cum-cinema hall.



Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References 
Brighter lights, strong buzz. (2002, August 17). The Straits Times.

Byrne Bracken, G. (2002). Singapore: A walking tour (pp. 12-15). Singapore : Times Editions.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 BYR)

Dunlop, P. K. G. (2000). Street names of Singapore (p. 78). Singapore: Who's Who Publications.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 DUN)

Edwards, N., & Keys, P. (1988). Singapore: A guide to buildings, streets, places (p. 403). Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 EDW)

Lee, E. (1990). Historic buildings of Singapore (p. 59). Singapore: Preservation of Monuments Board.
(Call no.: RSING 720.95957 LEE)

Samuel, D. S. (1991). Singapore's heritage: Through places of historical interest (pp. 82, 149, 150, 152). Singapore: Elixir Consultancy Service.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 SAM)

Chan, C. (1990, January 22). New business centre-cum-cinema complex at Chinatown by September. The Straits Times, p. 36.

Ho, K. (2001, August 16). Thong Chai comes to life again. The Straits Times, Life, p. 10.

New $17m 8-lane carriageway. (1987, September 25). The Straits Times.

Sit, Y. F. (1994, April 16). New life for old Chinatown hotel as retail store. The Straits Times, Life!, p. 10.


Further Readings
Savage, V. R., & Yeoh, B. S. A. (2003). Toponymics: A study of Singapore street names (pp. 122-123). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
(Call no.: RSING 915.9570014 SAV)

Hee, L. (2002). Consuming culture: The old Thong Chai Medical Building at Eu Tong Sen Street. The Singapore Architect, 214, 88-97.
(Call no.: RSING 720.5 SA)

Lim, H. (2003, February 24). What's so majestic about Majestic? The Straits Times, Forum.

Wilcox, S. (2003, February 13). Majestic Theatre stages comeback as retail mall. The Straits Times. 



The information in this article is valid as at 2003 and correct as far as we can 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.

Subject
Architecture and Landscape>>Streets and Places
Ethnic Communities
Street names--Singapore
Arts>>Architecture>>Public and commercial buildings
People and communities>>Social groups and communities

Librarian Recommendations
>> Chinatown
>> Eu Tong Sen
>> Great Southern Hotel
>> Neil Road


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