Victor was right. It’s quite meaningless without hints. You either know or you don’t know. So I make it a multiple choice question.Is it?
A) The Foo Chow Building in Plummer Road?
B) The Palmer House in Palmer Road?
C) The Diamond Industrial Building in Paya Lebar?
More history and rare old photos of this place and its vicinity in a couple of days.
ANSWER (11 January 2008):
PALMER HOUSE located at Palmer Road, just behind the former Singapore Polytechnic. It was built in 1954 and known originally as the Chinese YMCA; later renamed Metropolitan YMCA, and now Palmer House.
Zen was right. Those are cranes in the background belonging to the PSA's Tanjong Pagar Container Port Terminal. That place should be familiar to Zen. He had many lunches at the nearby Tian Lye Street in the sixties.
Here're a couple of photos of the building taken yesterday. (I have enrolled for a course at the TESOL Training Centre and will be going there quite freqently in the next few months). Anyway, I will let my friend Peter tell you more in the next article. Hope can find time (have to scan and edit a 1962 map of the area) to put up his article and photos tonight or tomorrow latest. Please reserve your comments till then.
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20 comments:
I like the idea behind your old building quiz. It makes me think. The problem is that I don't know the answer because I have not even seen this building before.
I shall look forward to your post about this place in a couple of days.
Hmm... you just went to Singapore Polytechnic near Palmer Road recently. However I will not fall for the same trick again. So option B is out.
Victor
What kind of answer is that? U want to play safe?
I think Victor knows the answer and just wants to help me to confuse the readers a bit in order to make things more interesting.
If I'm not wrong, its the building beside Bestway Building. This time round I do not know what building is that.
If I'm not wrong, its the building beside Bestway Building. This time round I do not know what building is that.
I have never been to the three places but anyway I would like to make a wild guess - it is the Palmer House because it appears to have a shore crane in the background.
Looks like Zen is very good in observing background objects eh? But the last time, you mistook the sky scrapers of Shenton Way for HDB flats!
Foo Chow Building
Tom said... can I get another hint,
Chun see can you tell me the age of that building, because I thing
have seen it years ago, what comes
to mind is the pole out side the
front of building.
Tom said... sorry Chun see, I had another look at the building, my eyes must have been playing up, dah dah.
Lacking a sound topo. sense of direction and coupled with poor eyesight, I need a landmarked building or structure to guide me to my destination. During the early days of Malaysia Cup football competition at the National Stadium, I used to link the spot where I parked my car to some notable surrounding objects otherwise I would not able to locate my car after the match ended (the parking system those days was unsophisticated). This habit continues up this today.
On the photo of Singapore Polytechnic vicinity, Chun See rightfully pointed out the nearer skyscraper buildings in Shenton Way, but I was looking something afar at the HDB buildings in Tj Pagar which appears to be in the photo, or are they not?
wow amazing blog! i'm still a teen n hmm i was searching for food when google gave me ur blog thru the a&w post last year.. amazing that ur blog is active..
i bookmark ur blog alrdy haha nice blog
=D nicer than history textbook -.-
bleh
Tom said ...
I have had another look at the building , Iam sure Ihave seen it, what is catching my eye is the canopy out side the front and the three or four tall trees, I just wish I knew the age of it?.
Hi Vigelic. Welcome to Good Morning Yesterday. I am always gratified to know that young people enjoy all our old stories. Thanks to many friends for their contributions.
Maybe Chun See would like to repackage his GMY into something like old wine in new bottle, appealing to the younger set. During lunch with Chun See, we have casual talk of how clever the younger generation is, for example Ya Kun is able to repackage the humble traditional local breakfast set, comprising of kaya/butter bread toast plus half boiled eggs and made them go International. Similarly Breadtalk with its designer breads has made inroad to many Asian cities.
Really Palmer House ah? Alamak, fell for your trick again.
With the total disapearance of Tian Lye street completely off the Singapore map, the present Palmer road and its building is a far cry from its former self - the YMCA. I can't imagine a modern building could be located in such a serene and surrounding being just a stone throw away from the busy container port, if not for a tell-tale sign of a distance shore crane. I was about to guess it as the Foo Chow Building, but on second thought the quietness of the place made me change my mind. The Diamond Industrial Building was ruled out because the place seems to lack security protection. This quiz is actually a good mental exercise for my old tired brain.
Zen. You forgot to mention the sky scrapers of Shenton Way. Notice that they seem to pop up all over my photos of the old places.
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