Craig Road begins from the junction of Neil Road and Keong Saik Road and ends at Tanjong Pagar Road. Named after Captain James Craig, an officer in the Merchant Service Guild and member of Freemason's Zetland Lodge, the road was the living quarters of Chinatown's poor in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Description
The area around Craig Road was originally a nutmeg plantation owned by Dr. Montgomerie. Dr. Montgomerie's plantation included a portion of the current Tanjong Pagar Road, and consisted of 13 ha. of land and 1800 trees with dwelling houses named "Craig Hill" and "Duxton" nestled amongst the trees. The whole plantation including the dwelling spaces were auctioned off to Ker, Rawson & Co. in 1856 Craig Road, along with two other nearby roads, Duxton Road and Duxton Hill, were presumably constructed after the 1856 sale and named after the abovementioned dwellings.
In the years that followed, Craig Road became a residential area of the poor and the shunned. Rickshaw coolies, prostitutes, dock workers and triad gangsters set up home along the street. The road presumably lost its seedy reputation when the Peranakan took residence there. Rapid urbanisation that followed after Singapore's separation from Malaysia in 1965 saw Craig Road getting an image makeover. Now, under the Tanjong Pagar Conservation Area, it is a posh locale which is still affected by constant development.
Craig Road is populated with shops, restored shophouses, eating places, terrace buildings, pubs, private residential units, hotels, commercial units and a few HDB blocks. A French Business Centre at the beginning of the road, in the form of a 2,500 sq. m. 3-storey classy building, was opened in 1995. Other big commercial-cum-residential units found on the road are Craig Place, Chinatown Plaza and Apartments, the latter being located opposite of the French Business Centre. Duxton Plain Park and Poo Thor Jee Temple which used to accept patients on behalf of the Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic are also nearby.
Variant names
Chinese name: Gu-chhia-chui kia (Hokkien), meaning "next to Kreta Ayer". To avoid confusion with similar sounding roads located around Kreta Ayer, Craig Road was also called Ka-lek lut (Hokkien), which has only phonetic significance and was used to mean Craig Road and the road where Babas lived.
San yiong tai uk pin (Cantonese), meaning "beside Sam Yiong's big house". San yiong was a Baba who owned a big house on this road.
Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja
References
Buckley, C. B. (1984). An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore: 1819-1867 (p. 636). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 BUC)
Dunlop, P. K. G. (2000). Street names of Singapore (p. 61). Singapore: Who's Who Publications.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 DUN)
Edwards, N., & Keys, P. (1996). Singapore: A guide to buildings, streets, places (p. 459). Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 EDW)
Savage, V. R., & Yeoh, B. S. A. (2003). Toponymics: A study of Singapore street names (p. 102). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
(Call no.: RSING 915.9570014 SAV)
Firmstone, H. W. (1905, January). Chinese names of streets and places in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 4, 82-83.
(Call no.: RSING 959.5 FIR-[IC])
Chan, K. S. (2001, April 9). Volatile mix in Tanjong Pagar. The Straits Times, Life, p. 8.
Chow, C. S. (1990, March 24). Land specially for hotels to be released The Straits Times, p. 1.
Ho, J. (1995, November 28). French centre. The Straits Times, Life, p. 2.
Tan, B. H. (1989, April 05 ). The pioneers of Tanjong Pagar. The Straits Times, p. 5.
Yan Kit Road was a relatively safe locality. (1997, December 23). The Straits Times, p. 34.
Further Readings
Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic. (2000). Milestones in our history. Retrieved June 27, 2003, from www.sbfc.org.sg/english/history.html
The information in this article is valid as at 2003 and correct as far as we are able to 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.
