Balestier Road

Balestier Road is a road located in the urban planning areas of Novena and Kallang in the central part of Singapore. The road links Thomson Road to Serangoon Road and the road continues on as Lavender Street. The road is home to rows of shophouses, low-rise apartment and commercial buildings as well as a shopping mall known as Shaw Plaza. There are several lighting and electrical shops along the road and the road is home to the Celyon Sports Club. The area is known for its food such as bak kut teh, chicken rice and tau sar piah with budget hotels sprucing up in the area as well as prostitutes. In the area, there are several apartments and condominiums. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Singapore is divided into 55 urban planning areas by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, organised into five regions. ... Novena highlighted in red. ... Kallang is an urban planning area and a subdivision located in the southeastern part of Singapore. ... The Central Region of Singapore is one of the five regions in the city-state. ... Thomson Road (Chinese: 汤申路) is a major trunk road linking Singapores central business district with the northern suburban areas. ... Serangoon is a district situated in the central part of the city-state of Singapore, within the North East Region. ... A shophouse is a type of building found in Singapore, Malaysia and throughout much of Southeast Asia, predominantly housing Chinese merchans, craftsmen and their families. ... It has been suggested that Retail park be merged into this article or section. ... Lighting refers to either artificial light sources such as lamps or to natural illumination of interiors from daylight. ... The field of electronics comprises the study and use of systems that operate by controlling the flow of electrons (or other charge carriers) in devices such as thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) and semiconductors. ... Bak kut teh is a Chinese soup concoction popularly served in Malaysia, Singapore and also states of neighbouring countries like Batam of Indonesia and Hat Yai of Thailand. ... Chicken rice may refer to: Chicken Rice, a band from Taiwan Chicken Rice War, a film set in Singapore Hainanese chicken rice, a popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... An apartment estate in Singapore; such blocks make up the majority of public housing in Singapore. ... A condominium, or condo for short, is a form of housing tenure. ...

Etymology and history

The road was named after Joseph Balestier, the then colony's first American consul from 1837 to 1852 and the owner of a 1,000 acre sugar plantation called Balestier Plain, which failed and was put up for sale. Balestier was in Singapore between 1834 and 1852 and was a botanist and agriculturist. The road was named after him as it was where his plantation was located. Balestier hired a number of immigrants on his estates. ^[1] The Chinese labourers settled in the area and built a temple which still exists known as Go Cho Tua Pek Kong, with the area having the last free-standing wayang stage in Singapore that was built in 1906. The rows of shophouses was constructed in the late 19th century has been since conserved, though some has made way for new development. These shophouses were to provide services to residents. In the 1880s, several bungalows were constructed, with one still remains at Tai Gin Road known as the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (formerly the Sun Yat Sen Villa or Wang Qing Yuan). For the uses of Consul as Chief Magistrate of a (city) state, see Consul. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... An acre is an English unit of area, which is also frequently used in the United States and some Commonwealth countries. ... Magnification of typical sugar showing monoclinic hemihedral crystalline structure. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Botany is the scientific study of plant life. ... Agriculture (a term which encompasses farming) is the art, science or practice of producing food, feed, fiber and many other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. ... Temple of Hephaestus, an ancient Greek Doric temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) For other uses, see Temple (disambiguation). ... Wayang is an Indonesian/Malay word for theater. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... A row of bungalows in Virginia A bungalow (Hindi: बुन्गलोव) is a type of single story house. ... Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: SÅ«n Zhōngshān Nányáng Jìniàn GuÇŽn, also known as Wan Qing Yuan, 晚晴园, and formerly as Sun Yat Sen Villa, 孙中山故居) is a double-storey colonial villa at Balestier...

Other than shophouses and bungalows, there were industrial activities in the area as well. There were rattan plantations along the Whampoa River and sugarcane productions at Jalan Ampas. The Balestier Market (now Balestier Market and Food Centre) was where locals could sell their produce. It was used as a food rationing centre during the World War II. Later, the market was rebuilt and housed a hawker centre as well. The market has since underwent upgrading works in the 2000s. Developers went on to construct landed properties in the 1920s with bungalows and terrace housees. In the 1950s, there was a film studio run by Shaw Brothers for its Malay language films. Both the Singapore Improvement Trust and the Housing and Development Board built flats in the area known as St. Michael's Estate. Modern shophouses were erected in the 1960s as well including walk-up apartments. In the late 20th century, several buildings were made way for newer buildings for high-rise condominiums, shopping malls and new commercial buildings. ^[2] Genera Calamus Calospatha Ceratolobus Daemonorops Eremospatha Eugeissonia Korthalsia Laccosperma Metroxylon Myrialepis Oncocalamus Pigafetta Plectocomia Plectomiopsis Raphia Zalacca Zalacella Rattan (from the Malay rotan), is the name for the roughly six hundred species of palms in the tribe Calameae, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia. ... Species Saccharum arundinaceum Saccharum bengalense Saccharum edule Saccharum officinarum Saccharum procerum Saccharum ravennae Saccharum robustum Saccharum sinense Saccharum spontaneum Sugarcane or Sugar cane (Saccharum) is a genus of 6 to 37 species (depending on taxonomic interpretation) of tall grasses (family Poaceae, tribe Andropogoneae), native to warm temperate to tropical regions... Jalan Ampas is a street near Balestier Road in Singapore where the movie studios Malay Film Productions and Shaw Brothers are located. ... Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services: it restricts how much people are allowed to buy or consume. ... Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... A food centre in Lavender, Singapore A hawker centre or food centre is the name given to open-air complexes in Malaysia and Singapore housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food. ... This article is becoming very long. ... The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... A street of British terraced housing In architecture and city planning, a terrace, rowhouse, or townhouse (United States) is a style of housing since the late 18th century where identical individual houses are cojoined into rows. ... // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ... A film studio is a controlled environment for the making of a film. ... The Shaw Studio (邵氏片場), owned by Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. ... The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ... The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was a government organisation set up in 1927 by the British colonial government in Singapore in response to the housing needs of the population of Singapore. ... It has been suggested that Public housing in Singapore be merged into this article or section. ... Figure 1. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... A condominium, or condo for short, is a form of housing tenure. ... It has been suggested that Retail park be merged into this article or section. ...

The Hokkiens referred the road as o kio, meaning "black bridge", and as go cho tua peh kong, meaning "Rochor temple". The Tamils named the area thaneer kampong as water was drown from there by the bullock cart in the old days. ^[1] Hoklo (Chinese: 福佬人; Pinyin: Fúlǎo Rén; POJ: Ho̍h-ló-lâng/Hō-ló-lâng) primarily refers to the largest of the four subethnic and ethnic groups in Taiwan. ... Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are an ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... Impact of a drop of water. ... The Bullock cart is a common means of transportation used traditionally since ancient times in India, which then was what the Indian subcontinent is now. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Victor R Savage, Brenda SA Yeoh (2004), Toponymics A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern University Press, ISBN 981-210-364-3
2. ^ Balestier, a mix of new and old. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Retrieved on 12 January 2007).