Lavender is a subzone within the planning area of

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the no ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, as defined by the

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. Mission The authority was established on 1 Apri ...

(URA). Lavender is composed of an area bounded by Tessensohn Road in the north; Balestier Road, Lavender Street and Crawford Street in the east; the

Rochor River The Rochor River ( zh, s=梧槽河; ms, Sungei Rochor) is a canalised river in Kallang of the Central Region in Singapore. The river is about 0.8 km in length. The Rochor River is a continuation of the Rochor Canal, and begins beneath ...

and Rochor Canal in the south; as well as Syed Alwi Road,

Serangoon Road ''Serangoon Road'' is an Australian-Singaporean television drama series which premiered on 22 September 2013 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and HBO Asia. It is a detective noir drama set in the 1960s, revolving around Serango ...

and Rangoon Road in the west. Lavender is largely commercial, even though several blocks of public housing provided by the

Housing and Development Board The Housing & Development Board (HDB) (; ms, Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan; ta, வீடமைப்பு வளர்ச்சிக் கழகம்) or often referred to as the Housing Board, is a statutory board under the M ...

(HDB) exist at Jellicoe Road and French Road. Notable places in this subzone include

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a association football, football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that i ...

, Jalan Besar Swimming Complex, Jalan Besar Community Club, the series of historic shophouses along

Jalan Besar Jalan Besar (; literally "Large Road" in Malay, but taken to mean "Main Road") is a one-way road in Singapore, connecting Lavender Street in Kallang and Rochor Canal Road in Rochor Rochor is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area locate ...

, the headquarters of

People's Association The People's Association (PA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) of the Government of Singapore that oversees neighbourhood grassroots communities and social organisations. Established in 1960, it wa ...

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) is a law-enforcement command within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in Singapore. ICA w ...

(ICA) Building,

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple or Sri Perumal Temple ( ta, சிங்கப்பூர் ஸ்ரீநிவாசப் பெருமாள் கோயில்) is one of the oldest temples in Singapore. It is located in Little India wit ...

Mustafa Centre Mustafa Centre is the shopping mall on Syed Alwi Road in the cultural district of Little India, within the planning area of Kallang. Within a walking distance from Farrer Park station on the North East line, Mustafa Centre is a retail hub attra ...

Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre, formerly known as St George’s Road Tamil Language Centre, is an academic institution for teaching Tamil language in Singapore. After the closure of Umar Pulavar Tamil High School in 1982, St George’s Road ...

and

City Square Mall City Square Mall (Chinese: 城市广场; Pinyin: Chéng Shì Guǎng Chǎng) is Singapore's first eco-mall to be integrated with a urban park named City Green, located within the planning area of Kallang. The mall sits on the site of Singapore' ...

. In addition, the

New World Amusement Park The New World Amusement Park () was the first of three amusement parks, along with Great World (estd. early 1930s) and Gay World (estd. 1936), that wooed Malaya and Singapore night crowds from the 1920s to the 1960s. New World was a prominen ...

once stood in this area. The district has not changed a lot in a city known for its frenetic urban planning, and as a source puts it, "entering Lavender is like entering Singapore in the late 1980s", where old public housing is occupied by an elderly community, with small automotive shops, hardware resellers and temples. A trend of

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

began in around 2014, mainly along Jalan Besar. Parts of the

Little India Little India or India Town (less commonly known as Indian Street or India Bazaar) is an Indian or Desi (South Asian) sociocultural environment outside India or the subcontinent. It especially refers to an area with Indian residences and a dive ...

ethnic neighbourhood extends into this area. There are now many small coffee shops and music studios in this rather vintage-looking district.

Lavender MRT station Lavender MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the East West line in Kallang, Singapore. Located under Kallang Road, the station is close to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Building, Golden Mile Compl ...

and

Farrer Park MRT station Farrer Park MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station along the North East line, located on the boundary of Kallang and Rochor planning areas, Singapore. It is one of the two stations that serve the ethnic district of Litt ...

serve Lavender subzone.

Etymology

The subzone of Lavender derived its name from Lavender Street. The road was officially named on 8 March 1858, as a result of suggestions by the nearby residents. Contrary to what the name may suggest, the area around Lavender Street was foul-smelling, probably due to the

Kallang Gasworks Kallang Gasworks ( Pinyin: Jiā lěng méi qì chǎng) was the first site dedicated to gas manufacturing from coal in Singapore. It operated from 1862 to 23 March 1998. In 1862, it was constructed by the Singapore Gas Company and occupied an area ...

in the vicinity. The name was a tongue-in-cheek humour used by residents of the area.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2015 Places in Singapore Central Region, Singapore Kallang