Summary:
- The National Heritage Board has relaunched its oldest trail, the Civic District Heritage Trail , highlighting lesser-known stories of residents who once lived, worked, and played in the area.
- Former residents like the Lalwani and Ang families, as well as Teo Peng Hoe, share vivid anecdotes and personal tales that bring the district’s past as a leisure, retail, and cultural hub to life.
- Visitors can explore free self-guided trails (there are three themes to choose from) or join guided tours soon, with resources available online including a 72-page companion booklet.
Catching a show at Capitol Theatre, shopping at the Bobby-O Department Store, or wolfing down a knickerbocker glory at the Magnolia Snack Bar are all memories for those of us who grew up in early Singapore.
While many of these storied establishments have sadly faded away, you can now walk down memory lane with the National Heritage Board’s (NHB) newly refreshed Civic District Heritage Trail.
The self-guided free walking trail promises a nostalgic journey through time informed by the stories of former residents of the Civic District.
These include the Ang family, which owned and operated the Kwang Sia record store on Hill Street in the 50s, as well as the Lalwani family, which managed Bobby-O and lived in Eu Court (now demolished).
Shalini Lalwani, a descendant of the Sindhi clan, recalls spending almost her entire childhood in the district.
One of her favourite memories as a child was organising an annual “Sports Day” for her siblings and neighbours, constructing makeshift hurdles out of Magnolia milk cartons.
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Third version of Civic District Heritage Trail
The trail was first introduced in 1999, and later refreshed in 2015 as the Jubilee Walk with the theme of Singapore’s story of resilience. Now, the walk will focus on exploring the Civic District’s lesser-known tales of its early residents.
Teo Peng Hoe, another former Hill Street resident, found an audience with the late Lee Kuan Yew after building a three-dimensional painted model of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) – at the age of 14, with no architectural drawings or plans.
The silver presented his completed model to SCCCI at the building’s opening in 1964, where he ended up shaking the hand of the former statesman and founding prime minister of Singapore.
Though he didn’t know it then, that youthful experience with the joys of plywood and 3D modelling led Peng Hoe into an architectural modelling career, where he would end up building scale models of buildings like Changi’s Terminal One.
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Three thematic routes available
Landmarks on the refreshed Civic District Heritage Trail can be identified by heritage markers containing more information on the sites. For even more nuggets of forgotten history, you can download NHB’s 72-page companion booklet for further reading.
On the website, you’ll also find three thematic trails between 0.5km and 2.2km in length. Each of these routes will dive into a different aspect of the Civic District, whether that be the journey of new immigrants, Singapore’s push towards nationhood, or the key functions of the historic district.
The longest trail shouldn’t take you more than two hours to complete, inclusive of rest breaks and photo stops. If you need a break, just nip into one of the many malls or museums along the way for some air-conditioned respite.
If you’d rather explore the trail together with a group, guided tours by private organisations will be rolled out soon.
"We hope that this will spark renewed interest in the central role that the Civic District played in Singapore's history, especially amongst the young who might only know the areas for what it is today."
