Bukit Timah ( ), often abbreviated as Bt Timah, is a

planning area Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the capaci ...

and residential estate located in the westernmost part of the Central Region of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Bukit Timah lies roughly from the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, bordering the

Central Water Catchment The Central Water Catchment, also known as the Central Catchment Area, is a designated Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and one of the two main water catchments of Singapore. The country's main reservoirs—MacRitchie Reservoir, MacR ...

to the north, Bukit Panjang to the northwest, Queenstown to the south, Tanglin to the southeast,

Clementi Clementi may refer to: People * Aldo Clementi (1925–2011), Italian composer * Carlo Mazzone-Clementi (1920–2000), Italian actor and mime * Cecil Clementi (1875–1947), British colonial administrator, Governor of Hong Kong and Straits Sett ...

to the southwest,

Novena A novena (from , "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the ...

to the east and Bukit Batok to the west. It is further split into eight subzones, namely Anak Bukit, Coronation Road, Farrer Court, Hillcrest, Holland Road, Leedon Park, Swiss Club and Ulu Pandan. Owing to its prime location, Bukit Timah has some of the densest clusters of luxury condominiums and landed property in the city, with very few public housing.

Etymology

The last identification of the area was on the 1828 map by Frankin and Jackson and was noted as Bukit Timah. As the interior of Singapore was not fully explored, it is likely the name came from the Malays. In Malay, Bukit Timah meant ''Tin bearing hill''. The original Malay name was ''Bukit Temak'', meaning "hill of the temak trees" as the temak trees were abundant in the area. It was possible that the British in Singapore had mispronounced or misheard and became Bukit Timah.

History

Bukit Timah Road, was completed in 1843 to provide a link to the highest point of Singapore, the

Bukit Timah Hill Bukit Timah Hill is the highest natural peak in Singapore. It is located in Bukit Panjang rather than its namesake district and its altitude is above sea level. Altitude The hill's altitude makes it the highest natural peak in Singapore. Th ...

. The road was then extended northwards to Kranji in 1845, making it one of the earliest roads connecting the north to the south. The Bukit Timah railway station (BRTS) was one of the five Singapore-Kranji railway stations opened in 1905, the first railway of Singapore. BRTS was decommissioned in July 2011 together with

Tanjong Pagar railway station Tanjong Pagar railway station, also known as Singapore railway station or Keppel Road railway station, is a former railway station located at 30 Keppel Road in Singapore. The station was the southern Terminal station, terminus of the network op ...

. Sections of the former railway station have been repurposed as a community space, and is now part of the Rail Corridor. Bukit Timah was a major battleground during the final stages of the Japanese Invasion in 1942, where the

Battle of Bukit Timah The Battle of Bukit Timah (10–12 February 1942), was part of the final stage of the Empire of Japan's Battle of Singapore, invasion of Singapore during World War II. Battle On 8 February 1942, the Japanese landed a large force on the west ...

was fought. The battle resulted in the fall of Bukit Timah to the Japanese as British had failed to repel the invaders from the area. Beauty World was formerly named ''Tai Tong Ah Sai Ka''i which was founded as an amusement park during the Japanese Occupation. Following the end of occupation, Tai Tong Ah Sai Kai was renamed ''Beauty World'' in 1947 and reopened as a market. After being badly damaged by series of fires in the 1970s, Beauty World was acquired by the government and was redeveloped as a shopping centre, which opened in 1984.

Infrastructure

The Bukit Timah area is a particularly prominent location with high land value. The Bukit Timah Race Course, a

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

facility, was opened in 1933 and operated until 1999. The land has since been renovated, and is currently home to The Grandstand, which hosts several food outlets, childcare services and a Giant supermarket. The nearby area hosts many

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s, typically expensive in land-scarce Singapore, as well as high rise

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s. Many

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

s and well-heeled Singaporeans live in this region. Its main attractions include popular eateries at Sixth Avenue, as well as Turf City. This region was later extended and Upper Bukit Timah (District 21) was formed.

Mass Rapid Transit

There are 7 MRT stations within the planning area, spanning 2 lines, the Downtown Line and Circle Line. Stage 2 of the

Downtown MRT line The Downtown Line (DTL) is a medium-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. It runs from Bukit Panjang MRT/LRT station, Bukit Panjang station in the north-west of the country towards Expo MRT station, ...

train service started on 27 December 2015 and parallels the Bukit Timah Road. It connects Bukit Panjang in the North-Western edge of Bukit Timah to the city centre in the South. Both lines have an interchange station at Botanic Gardens MRT station. The 6 other stations are: * Beauty World * King Albert Park *

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks b ...

Tan Kah Kee Tan Kah Kee (; also spelled as Chen Jiageng; 21 October 1874 – 12 August 1961) was a Chinese businessman, investor, and philanthropist active in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Xiamen, and Guangzhou. A prominent fig ...

* Farrer Road * Holland Village

Education

Bukit Timah is known to having many international schools in the region, due to the high number of expatriates and immigrants living in this region.

Primary schools

* Bukit Timah Primary School * Henry Park Primary School * Methodist Girls' School (Primary) * Nanyang Primary School * Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School * Raffles Girls' Primary School

Secondary schools

* Anglo Chinese School* *

St Joseph's Institution St. Joseph's Institution (SJI) is an independent Catholic educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1852 by the De La Salle Brothers, it is the first Catholic school and the third oldest school in the country. SJI has been offering a dual ...

* Singapore Chinese Girls School* * Hwa Chong Institution * Methodist Girls' School (Secondary) * Nanyang Girls' High School *

National Junior College National Junior College (NJC) is a government Junior college (Singapore), junior college located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. Established in 1969, it was the first government junior college in Singapore. NJC offers a two-year course for pre-universit ...

* St. Margaret's Secondary School