This conservation area along Mountbatten Road contains 15 bungalows mainly of the Victorian and Art Deco styles.
Mountbatten Estate is one of five subzones in the Marine Parade area and is named after Lord Louis Mountbatten who later became Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
There was a vast coconut plantation known as Grove Estate, stretching from the original shoreline towards the former Grove Road, which is now Mountbatten Road. The estate too, is part of the East Coast and was famed for its beach and waterfront location. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the wealthy set up homes here, dotting the estate with bungalows.
The single-storey raised bungalows of the rich were such a familiar sight along Mountbatten Road, that they were nicknamed "Millionaires' Bungalows". This type of house was first built in India and were found to be effective in keeping the heat of the tropical sun away as the under-floor ventilation kept the rooms cool.
Today, Mountbatten Estate is described as being an area with a good mix of quality bungalow housing and residential apartments. 15 of these buildings that range from Art Deco to Victorian to early Modern styles have been set aside for conservation.
745 Mountbatten Road was once a two-storey Early Modern style bungalow also known as ‘Chansville’, the home of the late Dr Chan Ah Kow and his seven children - including Alex, Roy, Patricia and Mark - who were well known in the 1960s and 1970s for their swimming prowess. Chansville has been restored and extended and is now part of a development consisting of five bungalows called the Five Legends of Mountbatten.
733 Mountbatten Road, a single-storey Early Style bungalow built in 1927, received the URA Architectural Heritage Award in 2004 [http://www.ura.gov.sg/conservation/733mountb.htm]. The restored bungalow was also recognised with a 2008 Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Culture Heritage Conservation for demonstrating good conservation practice in combination with innovative solutions for providing additional space in the re-use of this heritage building.
Conserved on 23 July 1993
References:
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_851_2005-01-05.html