Emerald Hill Road, Singapore

Emerald Hill Road, Singapore (1 August 2017)


Emerald Hill Road is a minor road in Singapore. It is located in the Newton within Postal District 9. Today it is a narrow winding road. The road is lined on both sides with 2-storey prewar houses that have been restored. Many of these have been turned over for commercial use. Emerald Hill Road used to connect with Clemenceau Avenue North, but no longer does. Nowadays, traffic enters via Hullet Road, which in turn is fed by Cairnhill Road. A stretch of the road has one-way traffic, forming a loop with Hullet Road and Saunders Road. The southern portion of Emerald Hill Road at Peranakan Place is pedestrianized. That stretch is within the Orchard Planning Area.

According to Singapore Street Names¹, the area that is today Emerald Hill was the property of William Cuppage (1807-1872), whose name lives on at Cuppage Road. He arrived in Singapore to take up the position of postal clerk, but rose through the ranks to become acting Postmaster General by the 1840s. Aside from that, he also went into the plantation business. He leased the land at Emerald Hill in 1837 to establish a nutmeg plantation, and by 1845 was able to secure a permanent grant of the land.

The land on which the two rows of terrace houses on either sides of Emerald Hill Road was acquired by the Seah brothers, Seah Boon Kang and Seah Eng Kiat around the turn of the 20th century. They subdivided the property and over the initial decades of the 20th century, terrace houses were built to replace previous houses there.

According to What's in the Name?², Emerald Hill Road got its name in 1913. It was named after William Cuppage's Emerald Hill Estate.

The area became associated with the Singapore Peranakans after a number of notable Peranakans moved to live there.

Map of Emerald Hill Road, Singapore

Emerald Hill Road, Singapore (1 August 2017)


Emerald Hill Road, looking in the direction of Orchard Road. (1 August 2017)


Three-storey restored prewar terrace houses with French windows at Emerald Hill Road, Singapore. They have entrance archways but no five-foot ways. (1 August 2017)


Two-storey restored prewar terrace houses with five-foot way at Emerald Hill Road, Singapore. (1 August 2017)


Emerald Hill Road roadsign (1 August 2017)

Emerald Hill Road Singapore on Google Street View

Emerald Hill Road Singapore (Jan 2023)

References

List of the Streets in Singapore; Discover Singapore

 Sights in Singapore

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Streets of Singapore and Map of Singapore Streets

Singapore MRT and Map of Singapore MRT

Postal Districts of Singapore and Map of Singapore Postal Districts

Planning Areas of Singapore and Map of Singapore Planning Areas

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.