| English | Orchard Road |
| Chinese | 乌节路 |
| (Pinyin | Wūjíe-lù) |
| Malay | Jalan Kebun (or Jalan Orkid) |
| Tamil | ஓர்ச்சர்ட் சாலை |
| Ruling party | |
| Places of Interest | |
Orchard Road is a road in Singapore that is the retail and entertainment hub of the city-state. It is regularly frequented by the local population as well as being a major tourist attraction. Often the surrounding area is known simply as Orchard.[1]
The immediate vicinity of Orchard Road, Orchard Planning Area is one of 55 urban planning areas as specified by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and is a commercial district. It is part of the Central Region, and Singapore's central business district, the Central Area.
During the National Day Rally Speech 2005, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that he would create more landmark buildings to create more fun in the district, partly to keep up with vibrant cities around the region.
Orchard Road underwent a $40 million revamp in 2009, with the addition of new street lamps, planter boxes, urban green rooms, street tiling, and flower totem poles.
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Orchard Road is a one-way street. It starts at the junction with Orange Grove Road which is the location of the Orchard Hotel. It then stretches southeast across the Scotts Road/Paterson Hill junction, Orchard MRT Station, Bideford Road, Somerset MRT Station, Central Expressway, Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station, and ends at the junction with Handy Road (just before Prinsep Street), where it becomes Bras Basah Road. It has an extensive underground infrastructure, including underground pedestrian walkways between the malls running underneath the street and also other streets in the vicinity. The numbers actually begin at Handy Road and end at Orange Grove Road.
Orchard Road got its name from the nutmeg, pepper and fruit orchards or the plantations that the road led to in the mid-1800s. Commercial development only began in the twentieth century, and took off in the 1970s.
Orchard Road was already cut in the 1830s, though the new road was not named in George Coleman's 1836 Map of Singapore. In the 1830s the Orchard Road area was the scene of gambier and pepper plantations. Later, nutmeg plantations and fruit orchards predominated, hence its name.
By 1846, the spread of houses had reached up to Tank Road. There were none on the left side and only three or four houses went past Tank Road on the right side of Orchard Road.
One major sight during this period was a Dr Jun tending his garden, which helped endorse the road's name. He had a garden and plantation at the corner of what is now Scotts Road and Orchard Road.
Towards the later part of the 1840s, graveyards began to appear along the road. By 1846, the Chinese had a large graveyard around what is now the Meritus Mandarin Hotel and Ngee Ann City, while the Sumatrans from Bencoolen had their burial ground where the current Grand Central Hotel stands. Later a Jewish cemetery was established; it was located where Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station is now situated, and demolished in 1984.
In the 1860s, Orchard Road had a great number of private houses and bungalows on hills looking down through the valley where the road passed through. Early in the 1890s, King Chulalongkorn, the then King of Siam, acquired "Hurricane House" in the vicinity of Orchard Road through Tan Kim Ching, the Thai Consul in Singapore. Two further pieces of adjoining property were added later and these subsequently became the site of the present Royal Thai Embassy at 370 Orchard Road.
In the early 20th century, it was noted that Orchard Road "present[ed] the appearance of a well-shaded avenue to English mansion[s]", comparable in its "quiet but effective beauty to Devonshire lanes." The Chinese called the area tang leng pa sat koi or "Tanglin market street". The Tamils refer to the road as vaira kimadam or "fakir's place", and muttu than (high ground), a reference to the hilly nature of the area.
Flash floods occurred at the road's iconic junction with Scotts Road on 16 June 2010 after 100mm of rain fell from 8 am to 11 am that morning, reportedly the worst flood at the junction since 1984. Shopping malls along Orchard Road like Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers were affected by the flood. The flood had caused some shopping mall and car park basements to be submerged in the water. Rescuers had to pull out about 70 passengers from cars and buses, as flooding shut down Orchard Road, which is lined with high-end shopping malls and tourist attractions. No one was injured.
Perhaps the most elegant site on Orchard Road is the Istana, at its southern end. Nibong palms survive near its entrance, with a plaque that reads: "As the nibong is a mangrove palm, this site must have once been a mangrove swamp." If this information is accurate, then Orchard Road was once a muddy swamp and these palms are remnants of that original habitat.
On the northern side of Orchard Road is the Botanic Gardens. Along Scotts Road is Goodwood Park Hotel, a fine example of colonial architecture and a monument. At the junction of Scotts Road and Orchard Road is TANGS, the first upmarket department store in Singapore.
About halfway down Orchard Road are Cairnhill and Emerald Hill, where the rich Chinese built their residences, now prime properties sought after by affluent professionals and expatriates. Next to Emerald Hill is Centrepoint, which houses the supermarket Cold Storage, possibly the oldest surviving business establishment in the area. Other establishments have not been so fortunate. Amber Mansions, one of the earliest apartment blocks in Singapore, built around the turn of the 20th century, was torn down in the 1980s to make way for the Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station.
Occupying the site of the former Pavilion Cinema, Specialists' Shopping Centre was one of the earliest redevelopment projects on Orchard Road. The shopping centre has been demolished to make way for a new development, Orchard Central. Its flagship store was John Little, which has been trading in Singapore since the mid-19th century, when it opened its first outlet in Commercial Square (now Raffles Place).
Scotts Shopping Centre housed Singapore's first food court and above was the Ascott Singapore. It was torn down in June 2007 to make way for a new building.
The first shop of note on Orchard Road was Tangs founded in 1934 and established on Orchard Road in the 1950s.
Orchard Road is flanked by pedestrian malls. Orchard Road also contains numerous upmarket restaurants, coffee chains, cafés, nightclubs and hotels. It is also the site of the official residence of the President of Singapore, the Istana.
Tanglin Mall is located at the junction of Tanglin Road and Grange Road. Its customer base is made up of expatriates, yuppies and professionals. Anchor tenants include Tanglin Market Place, a gourmet supermarket cum bakery; and Tasty Food Court where up to 15 varieties of local cuisine can be found.
Orchard Central distinguishes itself from other malls on Orchard Road with architectural and design forms. Fronted by an exterior featuring local artist Matthew Ngui's digital art membrane, the mall offers cluster concept shopping by grouping complementary offerings together for shoppers. The mall houses the world's tallest indoor Via Ferrata climbing wall, a large collection of public art installations by international artists and a 24/7-operational Roof Garden and Discovery Walk. The Roof Garden offers dining options on an open-air verandah.
313@somerset is directly linked to the Somerset MRT station and features a concentration of mid-range retail and dining outlets. Retail options are made of a mix of local and global fashion labels including Zara, Uniqlo, New Look, Esprit and a Forever 21 flagship store that spans four floors.
Visitors in Singapore (from 27 May to 24 July 2011) qualify for Great Singapore Sale tourist privileges and discounts at malls along Orchard Road. During this period, a number of malls extend their opening hours till 11pm.[2]
American fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch opened a flagship store on Orchard Road on December 15, 2011. The store was marked by controversy over an ad during its construction phase.
There are three major MRT stations situated in the Orchard Road vicinity. They are Orchard, Somerset and Dhoby Ghaut. These three stations are important hubs for commuters, locals, students and tourists who travel to the Orchard Road shopping and business district. However, since the opening of the ION Orchard, the entrance of the Orchard entrance has been moved underground below the upcoming mall.
There are many bus services provided by SBS Transit [1] and SMRT [2] that go to Orchard Road. The major bus stops along Orchard Road are situated at:
Visitors can also travel to Orchard Road via taxi. There are taxi stands at Forum The Shopping Mall, all hotels, Lucky Plaza, Wisma Atria, Ngee Ann City, The Paragon, The Heeren Shops, Centrepoint Shopping Centre and Plaza Singapura.
Those driving into Orchard Road may enter from the west via Napier Road. Vehicles from Dunearn Road that travel via Scotts Road can also turn left into Orchard Road at the Marriott Hotel junction. Vehicles coming from the opposite direction on Paterson Road can enter Orchard Road by turning right. There are also a number of other roads leading into Orchard Road. Orchard Road is one-way heading south and leads into Bras Basah Road which is also one-way and heading south.
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