Conserved Building
128D Cairnhill Road
Applicable Guidelines
Residential Historic District Guidelines
Conservation Area
Cairnhill Conservation Area
Historic address: 128D Cairnhill Road
About
This pre-war two-storey Transitional terrace house is one of a row of nine units in a streetblock that sits handsomely on a hill off Orchard Road, along Cairnhill Road. It was built in the early 1900s for Seow Poh Leng (1883–1942), a Peranakan philanthropist and founder of Ho Hong Bank, which merged with the Oversea-Chinese Bank and Chinese Commercial Bank in 1932 to form the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation.
The History
Cairnhill Road was an estate road leading to the hilltop nutmeg plantation of Charles Carnie (1810–1873), a Scotsman whose house was called Cairn Hill. There is no consensus on how the name came about. One explanation suggests that Carnie named his estate after a cairn — a common element in Scottish place names meaning a heap of stones, especially on a hill. Another explanation holds that the name is simply a corruption of "Carnie's Hill".
The Building
The terrace houses are designed with simple but elegant plaster mouldings, a balcony, and a forecourt fronting the main road. The main access to each house is via a set of stairs off Cairnhill Road. Each unit comprises two portions: a two-storey main building with a pitched clay-tiled roof and timber floors, and a rear service block constructed in reinforced concrete with a rear court.
The Legacy
From 2007 to 2008, this house underwent restoration works. In adapting the house for modern-day living, the works involved the creation of a garage under the landscaped terrace at the front and the addition of a two-storey modern extension complete with a rooftop swimming pool at the rear.
Guidelines and Procedures
All proposed works will need to comply with the Conservation Guidelines and the Specific Restoration Guidelines (SRG). Conservation Permission is required before all additions & alteration works and operations of new use can begin.
Residential Fronts are characterised by timber casement windows flanking a double-leafed timber door. All buildings with residential front which is existing and/or identified in the 'Specific Restoration Guidelines', regardless of land use zoning, shall be retained and restored.
Explore Street View
The building can be found at this street.