45, 48 and 49 Stirling Road are three residential flats on Stirling Road in Queenstown, Singapore. They were the first three blocks completed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), having been previously left unfinished by its predecessor, the Singapore Improvement Trust.
History
edit45, 48 and 49 Stirling Road were initially to be completed by the Singapore Improvement Trust. However, while construction on the flats was ongoing, the trust was dissolved and replaced with the Housing and Development Board (HDB). The blocks were completed by the board in October 1960, becoming the first flats to have been completed by the HDB. Residents began moving into the buildings in early 1961. The three blocks are all 7-storeys tall and rental flats.[1] They include one, two and three-room units,[2] with fifteen units on every floor.[3] The buildings feature letterboxes with keyholes, pipe sockets for laundry poles, and rubbish chutes without step pedals at the end of corridors, all of which are no longer usual features of HDB blocks. Block 49 is the only block out of the three with shops on the ground floor.[4]
At the time of construction, the surrounding area was mainly undeveloped swampland. As such, residents began calling the flats qik lao, which is Hokkien for "seven storeys". In 1965, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited a local family living in the flats while being accompanied by then-President Yusof Ishak.[2] The blocks, which were previously orange in colour, were painted grey and beige in June 2016. In recent years, the toilets and the lifts have been upgraded.[4]
The three blocks are most commonly known as the first HDB blocks and were the first flats launched under the HDB's First Five-Year Programme, which aimed to reduce the number of squatters and provide low-cost housing.[5] However, the blocks were both planned and partially built by the Singapore Improvement Trust. The first blocks to have been entirely planned and built by the HDB are blocks 12, 13, and 14 on Merpati Road.[1] The Stirling Road blocks have been included in the My Queenstown Heritage Trail by the National Heritage Board.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b Soh, Darren. "HDB Public Housing 1960 – 1980 | The First Two Decades". Docomomo Singapore. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ a b "45, 48 and 49 Stirling Road". Roots. National Heritage Board. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ Low, Calvin (3 November 2007). "Where it all began". The Straits Times.
- ^ a b Yeo, Sam Jo (7 November 2016). "Life in Singapore's oldest HDB blocks in Stirling Road". The Straits Times. Singapore. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ a b "The First HDB Blocks & the HDB Terraces". Roots. National Heritage Board. Retrieved 13 April 2024.