Conservation Area
Emerald Hill Conservation Area
Applicable Guidelines
Residential Historic District Guidelines
Conservation Area
Emerald Hill Conservation Area
Find out more about Emerald Hill Conservation Area.
Important Information
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.
Owners, architects and engineers intending to carry out restoration works or development within conservation areas are required to comply with the conservation principles, planning parameters and restoration guidelines for conserved shophouse and bungalow building typologies, as well as planning parameters and envelope control guidelines for new buildings within conservation areas accordingly.
For other building types, which do not conform to the standard shophouse or bungalow typology, these will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis in accordance with conservation principles. [1]
About
Emerald Hill Conservation Area was formerly plantation land that was subdivided and developed into a fashionable residential enclave for wealthy Chinese and Straits-Chinese merchants and their families at the turn of the 20th century.
The Architecture
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 Legacy
The area today is an attractive and quiet residential area with several commercial units in the main shopping zone near Orchard Road.
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
Guidelines and Procedures
Apply for Specific Restoration Guidelines (SRG) (opens in new tab)
Use Guidelines and Submission Process for Buildings in Historic Conservation Areas
Gallery
Resources
[1] The conservation guidelines for shophouses and bungalows will generally be applied by URA in the consideration of a development application. However, if the circumstances or planning considerations relevant to a case warrant it, URA may in its discretion decide to depart from these general guidelines. The guidelines, principles and illustrations found in the guidelines are not exhaustive in covering all possible site conditions and variations in building type. Persons intending to carry out a development are advised to take this into consideration and check with URA through enquiries or development applications to confirm if their proposals can be allowed.