27 Jan 2013

Petain Street, Singapore

I love the Shop Houses in Singapore. This is Petain Street in the Little India area - a row of 18 ornate terrace houses built in 1916 on what used to be swamp land.
Indian-style stucco pillars and chinese symbols in the bas-relief plasterwork depicting animals, including rabbits and peacoks or flowers
Beautiful spanish floral tiles. I'd love these in my bathroom at home!
The full beauty of the tiles surrounding the windows
A sky scraper menacingly towers over its old neighbours!
The architecture is a blend of European, Malay, Indian and Chinese influences with carved wooden eaves which are apparently found in Malay houses, classical-inspired columns and pilasters
The architecture is termed Singpaore eclectic or Chinese Baroque. I love the stained glass too!

The decorative facades reminded me of delicious royal icing piped onto cakes!

Great care has even been taken crafting the iron work above the doors
Hard to believe that these houses, typical of 1920's architecture, have survived and are located on a busy road surrounded by modern sky scrapers!

Thank you to Theres more to Singapore for signposting this street and sharing the information. They have also described other interesting walks in Singapaore that are worth reading about on their blog.