733 Mountbatten Road
733 Mountbatten Road is a bungalow on Mountbatten Road in Marine Parade, Singapore.
Description
[edit]The single-storey bungalow is designed in the Anglo-Malay style. It features the standard Malay house plan, with a verandah in the front, known as a serambi, a main core section, known as a rumah ibu and a kitchen in the back. The bungalow is elevated above the ground with several support piers, which protect the house against flooding. The porte-cochère features columns of the Corinthian order. The bungalow also features a pediment displaying the Chinese characters "我園", which is the name of the bungalow in Chinese.[1]
History
[edit]The bungalow was built in 1929 by stock exchange broker Wong Leng Swee.[1] An extension to the building was completed in 1957 while the current staircase leading up to the entrance was constructed in the 1960s.[2] The building became one of 15 on Mountbatten Road to have been gazatted for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 1991. In 1999, the bungalow was sold to businessman Ang Koon San, who restored the bungalow and built a new two-storey extension, connected to the original bungalow via a glass canopy. By the time of the acquisition, the house had been vacant for over a decade and had been left in a dilapidated state prior to restoration.[3] The restoration involved the replacing of damaged roof tiles, the revarnishing of the timber floors of the interior and the restoration of the timber partitions.[2] All of the original timber windows, each of which had around 40 parts, louvre parts and doors were disassembled piece by piece stripped of old paint, sanded down and reassembled. Glass from Australia was used to replace broken panels. Damaged fragments of the decorative plastic elements of the capitals of the columns were recreated and recast. In 2004, the bungalow's restoration received the Architectural Heritage Awards by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. In 2008, the restoration efforts received the Jury Commendation for Innovation at the UNESCO AsiaPacific Heritage Award for Culture Heritage Conservation.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "733 Mountbatten Road". ura.gov.sg. Urban Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ a b "No. 733 Mountbatten Road" (PDF). ura.gov.sg. Urban Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ Au-Yong, Rachel (13 April 2018). "38 Oxley lookalike has soul of its own". The Straits Times. Singapore. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ Sim, Arthur (16 September 2008). "Restored Katong house wins Unesco award". The Business Times. Singapore.