The area bounded by River Valley Road, North Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and Tan Tye Place is characterised by riverside warehouses and two/three-storey shophouses of the Transitional Shophouse style. The area is named after Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Clarke, second Governor of the Straits Settlements. It received conservation status on 7 July 1989.
The Singapore River Master Plan identified the area as one that required a sensitive combination of conservation and adaptive re-use of its warehouses and shophouses. The Clarke Quay conservation area was sold under the URA Sale of Sites Programme in 1989.
Many of the shophouses fronting the Singapore River, along the northern banks, feature sheltered verandahs at the top floor. These buildings are also largely of the ‘Teochew’ style of shophouses. The warehouses here, some of fine brick construction, are the largest conserved cluster of this type of architecture in Singapore.
A significant landmark is the two storey ‘River House’. This southern Chinese Teochew-style mansion, built in the 1880s, is the oldest building in Clarke Quay and features exquisite roof ridges. Once a residence for a Teochew merchant, it was subsequently used as a godown for gambier, biscuits and other commodities. By the time of the gazette of the area, it had been hidden from public view for decades bv make-shift sheds that were built infront of it. Fortunately, it has since been faithfully restored by skilled craftsmen in 1993 and given a URA Architectural Heritage Award in 1995.
The historic Read Bridge (1886-87) and Ord Bridge (1886), both conserved, links Clarke Quay to the south bank of the river.