Joo Chiat and Katong

In the early 19th century this part of the east coast was covered with coconut and cotton plantations and kampungs. Joo Chiat takes its name from Chew Joo Chiat, a wealthy plantation owner and philanthropist of Peranakan descent who bought much of the land; in the 1920s Joo Chiat Road was still a dirt track running from Geylang Serai towards the sea. During the 1920s and 1930s many families moved east from the crowded city, and with the shoreline then much closer, the area became a seaside retreat for the well-off.

Koon Seng Road, renamed in 1934 after businessman Cheong Koon Seng, was a Peranakan enclave until the 1970s. Most of its terrace houses were built in the 1920s and 1930s and were gazetted for conservation in 1991; they mix Chinese, Malay and European influences in what is often called Straits Eclectic style. Land reclamation along the East Coast from 1966 pushed the sea further away. Today the Urban Redevelopment Authority has conserved more than 800 buildings in the area, which is also associated with Singapore's Eurasian community.

Joo Chiat and Katong are residential neighbourhoods first, where families have lived for generations and where Peranakan and Eurasian food traditions are still kept alive in home kitchens and long-running shops. Weekend mornings bring locals out for breakfast at coffee shops and bakeries, and festive periods such as Chinese New Year and Hari Raya bring queues at the kueh and cookie shops. Residents value their quiet streets, so visitors are asked to be considerate when photographing homes.