Friday, March 18, 2011

Old Buildings Quiz 13

Below are two 1960s photos of old church buildings from the Memories of Singapore Fan Page. Can you identify them?

Photo No. 1



Photo No. 2

Please note. These are 2 different churches located at different parts of Singapore.

I think Photo number 2 should be easy. Below is a photo which I took of the same place in 2009.

It is the Blessed Sacrament Church in Commonwealth Drive.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's the church at the start of Tanglin Halt Road!

Wow... the '65 photo showed that that place is quite "ulu" back then.

-- KK

Lam Chun See said...

Wrong. The first photo is not the Blessed Sacrament Church in Commonwealth Drive (near Tanglin Halt Road). I made the same mistake at first.

Ngiam Shih Tung said...

My guess for #1 would be one of the old British bases. Possibly northern area - Sembawang or Woodlands ?

Lam Chun See said...

It's not in Sembawang or Woodlands. The building is still there but surrounding has changed a great deal; as expected.

Lam Chun See said...

I thot Icemoon would have not difficulty as he has blogged about the places in the vicinity at least 3 times.

Icemoon said...

Hmm .. what have I blogged so many times? Changi?

Btw, nice makeover of your blog image header!

Keith said...

This one very familiar, but just can't recall exactly where. Wild guess - somewhere along Margaret Drive ?

Unknown said...

My guess for #1 will be inside Tengah airbase. Pls confirm if my guess is correct. Thanks

Lam Chun See said...

Finally someone got the correct answer. Yes Tyler. It is now just outside the perimeter fence of the Tengah Air Base. I will post new photo and details of this church later.

Unknown said...

Thanks...I was doing my fulltime NS back in 1993-1995 and was travelling along the old Choa chu kang road quite often then. But I guess this church looks very different now.

Lam Chun See said...

Really?I thot you were one of the British servicemen, or like John Harper, a son of such a British servicemen who lived within the Tengah Air Base back then.

Singapore Man of Leisure said...

I love this blog! Just sharing that seeing all these "nostalgia" pictures has brought back many fond memories of Singapoe.

I live in Queenstown, so I knew Blessed Sacrament church. Now I know there's another "steeple" church in Tenah Air base!

Thanks!

Joseph Wong said...

Looking at Blessed Sacrament Church then and now, did you noticed a difference with the church? Even after checking out the angle of the shot, the triangular brick wall with the cross on the left arm of the church is missing from the current photo. Seems like they demolished it for road widening.

Anonymous said...

@Joseph
I believe the two photos of the Blessed Sacrament Church were not taken from the same spot. The road in the old photo is Queensway whereas the one in the newer photo is Commonwealth Drive. The cross on top of the church is facing different direction.

Joseph Wong said...

OiC. Thanks for clarifying:)

Lam Chun See said...

Anonymous is right. The 2 photos are taken from different direction. My 2009 photo was taken from the overhead pedestrian bridge just after the traffic lights junction and the road in front of the church is Commonwealth Drive.

The old photo ws taken from Queensway, just before the traffic lights, and the 2 blocks of HDB flats in the background are at Tanglin Halt Rd - they are still there.

Jo Rendle said...

As soon as i saw this photo i thought it to be St Andrews Church on Admiralty Road. I double checked on my website and here is the photo i have from 1989
http://anzmilitarybratsofsingapore.com/group/gallery/1_20_01_09_4_42_24.jpg
Built in 1963 for the British, it then became a church for the NZ Force from 1974. It was across the road from the ex British Naval School/ex ANZ Services School/ex NZ Forces School. I could be wrong does look to be the same building?
Jo-Anne Rendle,
Founder of ANZ Military Brats of Singapore

Lam Chun See said...

Hi Jo-Anne. The church in your photo really does look like this church. When was your photo taken? I have found another church in Tengah Air Base that also looks very close to it and I have posted that as the answer here. Could you pls check out my answer and see what you think.

Jo Rendle said...

The photo is from a booklet printed as a memento by the NZ Force when they withdrew from Singapore in 1989 so i'd say it was taken 88/89? Under the photo in the booklet was 'St Andrews Church Admiralty Road. Built in 1963 for the British, St Andrews served as the centre of worship for New Zealand Force from 1974'. When i look at your photo of the church on Tengah base, i see that the cross at the front of the building doesn't have the same white circle around it as the your photo of the church dated oct,65?(can see it when you zoom in) Also, the entrances of the two churches don't match but the 1965 photo does seem to match the St Andrews photo. Gee its a tough one because my mind remembers the sloping of the land looking over at St Andrews from the school across the road on Admiralty..but the road does look too small (narrow) to be Admiralty even back then before it was widened. I think i have some more photos of St Andrews, I'm going to have a look and will get back to you soon.
Kindest Regards,
jo

Jo Rendle said...

I can't find any more photos right now but found this photo:
http://www.singas.co.uk/John_Blyth/St_Andrews_Church_RN_Naval_Base_Singapore.JPG
at the singas.co.uk site and also this:
http://www.singas.co.uk/John_Blyth/St_Andrews_Church_1.jpg
showing different angles. Could there be two Churches with the exact same design in two different locations?