In 1927, 70 acres of land were acquired by
Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) as a test case for a public housing estate. This land was Tiong Bahru, a name derived from the Hokkien word for "tomb" and Malay word for "new". The land was hilly and swampy, with 'squatters of the pig-breeding and
coolie types'. To build the first-ever public housing estate in Singapore, the SIT had to remove cemeteries and displace some nearly 2000
squatters, while leveling the hilly terrain by cutting the hills nearly. The first block of SIT flats, block 55, was ready in December 1936. Its 20 flat units of the total 28 flat units were occupied by 11 families then. It had adopted a similar
typology to the shophouse where the ground floor consisted of shops with residential flats above. According to Tan Mok Lee, one of the first residents in the estate, the area was peaceful and had quite many empty flats, due to the costly monthly rent of $25 at that time. All of the streets in the estate are named after Chinese pioneers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Chay Yan Street is named after the rubber plantation merchant and philanthropist,
Tan Chay Yan. Peng Nguan Street is named after Lim Peng Nguan, an early settler and the father of the community leader
Lim Nee Soon. Tiong Bahru was surrounded by the Sit Wah Road and Outram Road. Beyond were
mangrove swamp and hillocks. Tiong Bahru was then also known as 美人窝 ("den of beauties") as it was where wealthy men would keep their mistresses. Due to close proximity to the
Great World Amusement Park, there was a predominance of 'pipa girls' within the SIT estate, which is a more polite term for prostitutes. It was speculated that the pipa girls use the staircase access at the back of the flats to entertain the men, and flee whenever the men's wives return. In 1939, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. In 1940, a series of construction plans were drawn to convert the motor garages at the back of the flats in Seng Poh Road into bomb shelters. By 1941, there were 784 flats, 54 tenements and 33 shops, which housed over 6000 residents. Since then, no new flats were built until the 1950s after the war. As the war drew near, the flats were painted in camouflage colours. Residents had also recalled at least two bombs landing on the estate during the Japanese occupation. The war had also brought widespread destruction of dwellings and overall overcrowding of slums with deterioration of hygiene conditions. The bomb shelters built around 1940 were effective in providing refuge for many residents during the Japanese occupation. Then, Japanese soldiers who used British prisoners-of-war to perform duties and labour on site occupied many flats, which were also used as brothels and gambling dens. The SIT's pre-war housing output of 2112 units was insufficient to meet the housing shortage as it only provided about 100 units per year. As a result, the committee planned a three-year immediate housing programme to alleviate the problem. As a result, a total of 1258 flats were added in Tiong Bahru. They were built in differently from the pre-war flats and had a communal dwelling concept, with open courtyard spaces. These flats were housed by approximately 17,000 people in the 1950s. In 2003, as a result of many years of discussion over the estate's heritage status as a pioneering experiment in modern urban housing and in its entrenched familiarity in Singaporeans' sense of place, twenty blocks of the pre-WWII flats were gazetted by the Urban Redevelopment Authority for conservation. Included in the Tiong Bahru Conservation Area are 36 units of shop houses on Outram Road. The junction of Seng Poh Road and Tiong Bahru Road housed a "bird corner" dating back to the early 1980s. The owners of song birds such as
Prinias,
Robins, and
Shrikes would gather at the corner to meet and chat over tea and coffee. The corner was disrupted by the building of the Link Hotel in 2003. In 2008 the owners of the hotel decided to reopen the structure for hanging birdcages. In 2010, the estate and its residents were the subject of the tenth of the Civic Life films by the Irish filmmakers, Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy. 150 volunteers from the estate and from across Singapore were involved. The film premiered at the National Museum of Singapore in October 2010. Ahead of the
2011 election, Tiong Bahru's then-MP
Koo Tsai Kee retired and the ward of Tiong Bahru was merged with the neighbouring Tanjong Pagar division to form Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru. Tiong Bahru is now seen as a hotspot for millennials who enjoy the old nostalgic vibes of the area. It attracts a good number of high-income residential population due to its close proximity to the CBD, while retaining a traditional Singapore charm. There is a thriving art community in the district, with murals and art-centric shops in the area. In 2025, two HDB blocks, out of 29, in Tiong Bahru failed to get enough votes for HIP to proceed. As the two blocks of four-storey walk-up flats, previously built by the SIT, had only 15 and 24 households, the 11 and 16 votes were not enough to pass the threshold for HIP to proceed. A preliminary poll conducted in 2019 that 10 blocks out of the 29 would fail the 75 percent threshold and hence no poll was conducted. Another preliminary poll conducted in early 2025 indicated all 29 blocks would pass the threshold and the HIP poll was conducted. On 4 December,
Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency Member of Parliament
Foo Cexiang, who oversees Tiong Bahru, said he would ask for a re-poll if there were sufficient support and would speak to households who did not vote for the HIP works. ==Design of the SIT Flats==