- Telok Ayer
SG neighbourhood
image
englishname=Telok Ayer
chinesename=直落亚逸
poj=
pengim=
pinyin=zhíluòyǎyì
malayname=Telok Ayer
tamilname="fill in"Telok Ayer is a historic district located in
Singapore 's Chinatown within theCentral Business District , straddling the Outram Planning Area and theDowntown Core under theUrban Redevelopment Authority 'surban planning zones.Etymology
"Telok Ayer" and its namesake road,
Telok Ayer Street , was named after Telok Ayer Bay, located at the foot of Mount Wallich. The Malay name refers to "bay water" because Telok Ayer Street was thecoast al road along the bay.Telok Ayer Street appears in
George Drumgoole Coleman 's 1836 "Map of Singapore" as "Teluk Ayer Street". The Chinese name for Telok Ayer Street refers to the Chinesetemple on this street — "da bo gong miao jie".Telok Ayer Street was also known colloquially under two names. The area nearer
Merchant Street was called Guan Soon Street because there was a firm located here called Chop Guan Soon that brought inIndia nlabourer s. Guan Sun is also the name of one of the five divisions of Hoklos (Hokkien) which took part in theChingay procession once every three years.The other colloquial name for Telok Ayer Street is called the "front street" of Mah Cho Temple in Hokkien because the street is in front of the
Thian Hock Keng Temple , dedicated to Goddess of the Sea, Mah Cho or Matsu.History
In 1822, Telok Ayer was the primary area set aside by
Sir Stamford Raffles for the Chinese community. As the main landing site for Chineseimmigrant s, Telok Ayer Street become one of the first streets in Chinatown and formed the backbone of development of the Chinese immigrant community in early Singapore. Thus, the Telok Ayer district was the original focal point of settlement in Chinatown.Until the late nineteenth century, Telok Ayer Street was the main commercial and
residential thoroughfare in Singapore. Asimmigration fromChina increased, so did the adverse qualities usually associated with a highly concentrated population. Between the 1850s and the 1870s, the road was the centre of the notorious Chinese slave trade. By the turn of the century, the area had become polluted and congested, and these factors, as well as the increasing afflucence of some of themerchant s, were possibly the main reasons which drove them out of town to look for a more salubrious environment.Temples and
mosque s are plentiful in this area as they were built by Chinese andMuslim immigrants to show their gratitude for safe passage. The numerousreligious andclan buildings on Telok Ayer Street testify to their importance in the past. These buildings include:
*Thian Hock Keng Temple (1820s), the oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore, dedicated to Matsu, Goddess of the Sea, Queen of Heaven and Patron of Sailors,
*Fuk Tak Chi Temple (1824), built jointly by theHakka s and Cantonese, colloquially known as the "mah cau toh peh kong", now restored as amuseum ,
*Hock Teck Chi Temple (1824-1869),
*Ying Fo Fui Kun Hakka Association Hall (1882),
*Ying Fo Fui Kun Temple (1823), the earliest building on the street built by the Hakkas,
*Nagore Durgha Shrine (1828-1830),
*Al-Abrar Mosque ("circa " 1827), and
*Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church (1924).In the past before
land reclamation ,boat s used to moor in Telok Ayer Bay waiting to getfresh water , carried bybullock cart s, from a well atAnn Siang Hill .Today, the whole bay area in front of Telok Ayer Street lies on
reclaimed land . In 1863, a group of localbusinessmen including Whampoa, applied to the Governor Orfeur Cavenagh for permission to build, at their own expense, apier and aseawall to reclaim land to buildwarehouse s. However, the request was not acceded, and the Hokkien temple of Thian Hock Keng was to remain fronting the sea until 1879.Plans for reclamation were again put forward in 1865 and reclamation work carried out between 1878 and 1885. The government levelled the
hill s along the coast, including Mount Wallich, in order to reclaim land from Telok Ayer Bay. Robinson Road andAnson Road were subsequently built. The existingmarshland was drained, thenutmeg plantations made way for maritime buildings and Thian Hock Keng Temple found itself five blocks away from the sea.Conservation and architecture
Telok Ayer has been
gazette d under the government's conservation plan. When the conservation project was completed, some of the area'sshophouse s were restored to their original appearance. Many of these shophouses are two- and three-storey, mostly the result of the land division of the time which consisted of deep sites with narrowfrontage s. The frontages are based on the then available length oftimber beams, usually about 4.8metre s.References
*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), "Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names", Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
*Norman Edwards, Peter Keys (1996), "Singapore - A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places", Times Books International, ISBN 9971-65-231-5External links
* [http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_see/ethnic_quarters/chinatown/telok_ayer.html Uniquely Singapore website]
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