Saturday, January 26, 2008

Old Buildings Quiz (6)

Can you identify this old building? To make it easier for you, I show 2 views taken from different directions. I took these pictures more than a year ago. At that time, it looked uninhabited, so just maybe it might not even be around today.




Hints:

1) It’s located near the sea.

2) Up to a couple of years ago, it was headquarters for a certain sport association. But I believe this building is probably at least 30 to 40 years old. What it was originally; I have no idea. Hope some reader can enlighten us.



ANSWER

This building is located between Nicoll Highway (above photo, left) and Stadium Road. It is next to National Stadium car park B. Across the road (right of this photo) is what used to be the Marine Coast Guard HQ which moved out a few months ago. I used to go there quite often for my brisk walking exercise with my friend Chuck. At that time, my son used to have his kayaking training there. But nowadays they train at the MacRitchie Reservoir. At that time I saw a sign saying this building was the headquarters of the Singapore Netball Association. Subsequently that association was shifted to another location near to the Stadium Boulevard side. I took these photos because I suspect they will tear it down pretty soon when they start constructing the new Sports Hub.

The above is a 1960’s photo of the Nicoll Highway and Merdeka Bridge (Thanks to Memories of Singapore for use of this photo) As you can see, the building was already there before the present National Stadium was built. According to my friend Peter Chan:

"This building was a look-out tower for aircrafts landing at the Old Kallang Airport. When there was Kallang Airport (up to 1955), it was used by the Royal Singapore Flying Club which later shifted to Paya Lebar Airport and now at Seletar Airport."

7 comments:

chuck said...

Chun See... we passed by this building during one of our walks?

Lam Chun See said...

Cannot answer your question. Do you need another photo?

Victor said...

I passed by there many times but never noticed this building. I guess whenever I was there, my attention was always focussed on the more prominent People's Association (PA) HQ building nearby which I believe used to be the old Kallang Airport's control tower.

BTW, the PA HQ is taking over my secondary school building (Victoria School in Tyrwhitt Road). I passed by there a few weeks ago and they were carrying out retrofitting work.

Tom said...

Tom said..I was watching quiz no.6
I thouht chun Seehad every body stumped on that building?.

Anonymous said...

Chuck obviously knows the answer but wants everyone to keep on guessing. This shows that people won't pay much attention to an insignificant looking building and go for something eye-catching, unless one has business to do with it. To look good is big business today.

Lam Chun See said...

Actually I think this one was quite tough. The building is quite obscure. Not many people come to this area nowadays. The view from Nicoll Highway is blocked by tall shrubs. But shutter bugs and sentimentalists should go there and take some photos because big, big changes are happening with the new Sports Hub and the Circle Line coming up in the next few years.

When younger, I used to like going to the Taiwanese Restaurant at Oasis. Hope it is still around; maybe after CNY can make a trip there for lunch.

Foyers interested?

Lam Chun See said...

Welcome if you are a reader from Skyscrapercity. If you want to know more about the history of this buidling; pls read my article here.