Formerly plantation land, the area was subdivided and developed into a fashionable abode for wealthy Chinese and Straits-Chinese merchants and their families at the turn of the 20th Century.
Their dwellings comprised of terrace houses of a variety of architectural styles (ranging from Transitional, Late to Art-Deco) as well as independent mansions (now demolished). Many feature ornate pintu-pagars and have ground floor facades decorated with attractive ceramic tilework. Elaborate plaster work and wood carvings combine to create an architectural hybrid that is also referred to as ‘Chinese Baroque’.
In 1985, the URA announced that Emerald Hill would be a conservation area, the first in Singapore, in order to conserve some of the best examples of Straits Chinese style of dwellings. The conservation area also includes the development known as ‘Peranakan Place’, which is a row of 6 two-storey shophouses (circa 1902) fronting Orchard Road. This was a pilot restoration and development project carried out by the URA in 1985.
The area today is an attractive and quiet residential area with several commercial units in the main shopping zone near Orchard Road.
Emerald Hill received formal conservation status on 7 July 1989.
Emerald Hill boasts a number of high-quality restoration projects that have won the URA Architectural Heritage Award.
41 Emerald Hill Road
74 Emerald Hill Road
94 Emerald Hill Road
77 Emerald Hill Road
6 Emerald Hill Road
45 Emerald Hill Road
50 Emerald Hill Road
66 Emerald Hill Road
63 Emerald Hill Road
65 Emerald Hill Road