Everton Road Turned Former Chinese Sausage Factory Into A Beautiful Conservation Home
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A conservation shophouse, which has lived many lives, is located at the corner Everton Road. It was built in the 1940s post-World War II era as a magnificent house for the Liews, a wealthy Cantonese family. In the middle of 1950s, a business partnership purchased the property which had two floors and an attic. The property was originally used to store premium Chinese foodtuffs. It was later used as a warehouse for premium Chinese foodstuffs. However, over the next 30 years it became the KwangChow Sausage Factory. This pioneering factory in Chinese sausage production in Singapore.
This factory was founded in 1959 and closed in the late 1980s. URA designated the shophouses on Everton Road, Blair Road, and Spottiswoode Park Road as conservation areas in October 1991. This largely residential area became the Blair Plain conservation zone.
The corner shophouse at 9 Everton Road, which was preserved, was leased to a Chinese family that opened their home to Chinese students for much of the 1990s. It was later leased to a photographer’s wife and a photographer, who used it as a home and studio for photography.
Expatriate Home
A British lawyer and his partner stumbled upon the shophouse when it was on the market for rent in 2014. They had lived in a condo and fell in love with the idea of living in a terraced conservation house. They accepted the offer immediately. They were willing to spend substantial renovations to transform the interiors into a modern residence where they could live and work, as well as entertain their friends. It is still their home seven years later. (See: Get detailed information about any Singapore condo with our condo directory.
The property has been in the Loh family’s possession for over 60 years, except for the first years when it belonged to the Liew families. The second generation of family now own it. “As much we are reluctant to part it with it, it’s time for us to sell it to effect a division of wealth among family members,” said the patriarch’s son, who is an entrepreneur but only wants to be called Mr Loh.
He believes that Everton Road’s freehold property can be restored to its former glory. He asked a contractor for an estimate of the cost to restore the original architectural features. The cost is approximately $160,000. To help potential buyers visualize what the property might look like after it is fully restored, he also hired an artist to render the facade of his shophouse using URA guidelines and architectural details.
URA claims that some shophouses on Everton Road were built in Art Deco or Modern styles. You can see the Chinese influence in the courtyard plan, the gables at the ends a pitched roof, and the batwing-shaped vents that rise above the first-storey windows. Also, the friezes made of coloured ceramics with dragon, phoenix, and flower motifs. These ornately decorated homes were built for wealthy Chinese merchant families in the early 20th-century. They served as a refuge from the “overcrowded, unsanitary, and disreputable urban areas east Cantonment Road”, URA’s narrative on the history of Blair Plain states. These Peranakan Straits Chinese families made Blair Road, Everton Road and Spottiswoode Park Road their preferred neighborhood.
The shophouse at 9 Everton Road is unique because of its position at a corner. The second-floor has a veranda that can be converted into an outdoor area. It is situated on a 2,023 square foot freehold property with a built-up area totaling 4,000 sq.ft over three levels. It is larger than the intermediate units nearby.
Loh says that although it is at a busy intersection, it doesn’t have all the negative attributes of properties at busy roads junctions. It is situated on an elevated ground that is approximately 3-4 feet (0.9-1.2m above street level) and is located on a quiet street.
High ceilings and many windows and doors make the shophouse a great place to enjoy natural light and cross-ventilation. Loh says that the shophouse is cooler and dryer than the nearby shops because of its corner location. Loh explains that Loh’s father, along with his business partners, thought it was a great warehouse for more expensive Chinese foodstuffs such as oysters, dried sea cucumber, and hasma.
Loh’s father, and his business partners, were the largest importers of Chinese food and products. They also supplied goods to many shops on the island. These Chinese goods were also exported to Malaysia and Indonesia, which had little trade with China at the time.
The headquarters of the import-export wholesale business was located in a five-storey shophouse at Hong Kong Street. The business grew rapidly and needed larger premises to store their goods. The shophouse in Everton Park was therefore considered suitable for the purpose. Loh’s father, Loh, consulted Master Leong Tian Zhi, a respected fengshui master, to confirm their views. Translated as “ruler of measuring the sky”, Master Leong Tian Zhi was then consulted. Loh relates that Master Leong Tian Zhi, a fengshui master, told him straight away that the house’s fengshui was “excellent” — the best in the class.
The Neighborhood
Loh put the property on the market last September through expressions of interest (EOI), conducted by Cushman & Wakefield. Based on the built-up area, the guide price was $7.5million or $1,875 per square foot.
Loh says that the timing of the pandemic meant that the family had to pull the property off the market.
The latest transaction in the neighborhood was the sale of the intermediate shophouse at 8 Everton Road, which sold for $3.8million last August. The shophouse is situated on 1,668 square feet of freehold land. Its gross floor area is 3,100 square feet.
Two other shophouses located along Neil Road were sold in November or December. The shophouse at the 151 Neil Road was valued at $7.4million and the one at the 149 Neil Road went for $7.3 million. Ong & Ong, an architectural firm, renovated the former in 2013. It has a built up area of 5,597 square feet. Based on the built-up area, the price is $1,250 per square foot. The freehold shophouses can only be used for residential purposes and are therefore available to Singaporeans.
CBRE conducted an EOI on May 6 to sell another pair of adjacent shophouses at 73 Neil Road and 75 Neil Road, just one week before Singapore entered Phase Two (Heightened alert). They are situated on an area of 4,439 square feet and a gross floor area 11128 square feet. The shophouses have an 825-square-foot front courtyard. They are zoned for commercial purposes so foreigners can purchase them. Shophouses are currently leased to office tenants. They are listed at $30 million or $2,510 per square foot based on their total floor area. On June 10, the EOI exercise was closed.
The country has now emerged from Phase Two (Heightened Alert), and the Loh family is considering selling the Everton Road property. Loh believes that the property could be given a fresh lease of life by its next owner. He says that the property is ideal for a single family home or co-living space, with multiple bedrooms and shared facilities.