Alexandra Road

History
Originally a plantations area in the 1950s, it became the location for reputable business names like Singapore Cold Storage, Anchor Brewery, Diethelm, Singapore Steam Laundry, to name a few. Another landmark is Alexandra Hospital, built in the 1930s for use by military personnel. Alexandra Park with beautiful tree-lined roads was one of the finest examples of a colonial residential park in Singapore. Most of the buildings were erected during 1935 to 1940 by the Far East Land, Air and Sea Forces to accommodate their military personnel.

Today industrial estates dot the road like Alexandra Distripark and Alexandra Technopark, along with industrial giants like Hewlett Packard, Kodak, AIA and the Neptune Orient Lines

Variant Names
Chinese Names:
(1) In Hokkien, Chui-bo lai means "Within the water rice-mill".
(2) Lau-chi kha means "Foot of the sirih" indicating its proximity to the sirih or "betel-nut" plantations.
(3) Sang khau tia means "Two boiling pans" where the tia is the pan used for boiling gambier. The planters prepared gambier differently in the Alexandra Road district, using two pans instead of one.



Author
Vernon Cornelius



References
Samuel, D. S. (1939). Malayan street names: What they mean and whom they commemorate (pp. 81). Ipoh: Mercantile Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.5 RAJ)