Temple Street (

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: 登婆街; ) is a one-way street in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

within the Outram Planning Area in

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 ...

. The road links

South Bridge Road South Bridge Road () is a major road in Singapore, running south of the Singapore River in Chinatown. It starts at Elgin Bridge and ends at the junction of Neil Road, Tanjong Pagar Road and Maxwell Road.Savage; Yeoh, p. 472 History South ...

New Bridge Road New Bridge Road (; ) is a major one-way road located within the Central Area in Singapore. New Bridge Road starts at the Coleman Bridge to the south of the Singapore River and extends into Chinatown within the Outram Planning Area, before j ...

, and is intersected by Trengganu Street.

Etymology and history

The official name for Temple Street was formerly Almeida Street after Joaqium d'Almeida, son of

José d'Almeida José d'Almeida Carvalho e Silva (27 November 1784 — 17 October 1850) was a Portuguese naval surgeon and pioneering merchant in Singapore. Early life d'Almeida was born in São Pedro do Sul, Portugal on 27 November 1784, to José d'Almeida and ...

, who owned some land in this area at the junction of Temple Street and Trengganu Street. In 1825, José d'Almeida, a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

physician and trader, opened a clinic and a shop here and made his fortune by trading in Portuguese and

goods. In 1908, the

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

s changed its name to Temple Street to avoid confusion with other streets in Singapore that were also named after D'Almeida. The street name ''Temple'' refers to the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

in Singapore, which is located at the South Bridge Road end of the street. It was established in 1827 by Narayana Pillay, who came from

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

in the company of

Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British Colonial Office, colonial official who served as the List of governors of the Dutch East Indies, governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieut ...

during the latter's second visit to Singapore in May 1819. Pillay's original business was destroyed by fire but with help from Raffles, he was soon back to his feet and moved to Commercial Square (now

Raffles Place Raffles Place is the centre of the Financial District of Singapore and is located south of the mouth of the Singapore River. It was first planned and developed in the 1820s as Commercial Square to serve as the hub of the commercial zone of Sing ...

). As an act of piety and gratitude, Pillay built the temple using wood and ''

attap ''Nypa fruticans'', commonly known as the nipa palm (or simply nipa, from ) or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the ma ...

''. This structure was replaced by one of brick and

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

in 1843 and has been repaired and renovated several times since then. The

name for this street, ''hei yuen hau jie'' or "theatre back street", refers to the Lai Chun Yuen Opera House located at Smith Street, a major landmark from the 1880s up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in Chinatown until it was damaged by a bomb during the war.

Cantonese opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of ...

s were popular here until 1927 and converted as

Sun Seng Cinema The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light an ...

Shaw Brothers Shaw Brothers (HK) Limited () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, operating from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

and now as Santa Grand Hotel. Temple Street was home to many Teochew traders who sold

Chinaware Chinese ceramics are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. They range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated Chinese ...

and household items. There were also itinerant

tinsmith A tinsmith is a historical term for a skilled craftsperson who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession was also known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profe ...

s and metalware workshops as well as

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

s making horseshoes.

References

*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2004), ''Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names'', Eastern University Press, *National Heritage Board (2006), ''Discover Singapore - Heritage Trails'',

External links

Top 30 Visits In Singapore - FindYourWayInSG
Roads in Singapore Outram, Singapore Chinatown, Singapore {{Singapore-road-stub

Etymology and history

See also

References

External links