Thomson is a relatively narrow area stretching from Novena in the Central Region of Singapore up north till

Sembawang Sembawang is a planning area and residential town located in the North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to the south, Yishun to the southeast, Woodlands to the west and the Straits of Jo ...

. The area is mainly located within the central catchment area where some of Singapore's reservoirs are located, including

MacRitchie Reservoir MacRitchie Reservoir is Singapore's oldest reservoir. The reservoir was completed in 1868 by impounding water from an earth embankment, and was then known as the Impounding Reservoir or Thomson Reservoir. History Before the early 19th centu ...

Upper Peirce Reservoir Upper Peirce Reservoir (Chinese: 贝雅士蓄水池上段) is Singapore's fourth reservoir. The 6-hectare Upper Peirce Reservoir Park overlooks the Upper Peirce Reservoir. History Originally known as the Kallang River Reservoir, Singapore's secon ...

and

Lower Peirce Reservoir The Lower Peirce Reservoir (Chinese: 贝雅士蓄水池下段 Malay: ''Takungan Air Lower Peirce'') is one of the oldest reservoirs in Singapore. It is located near MacRitchie Reservoir and Upper Peirce Reservoir. Previously known as Kallang Riv ...

Etymology

''Thomson'' was named after its namesake road, Thomson Road. Previously known as Seletar Road, this road was subsequently renamed "Thomson Road" named after

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...

, a government

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

who also helped to lay this road.Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), ''Toponymics – A Study of Singapore Street Names'', Eastern Universities Press,

Housing

The convenient location, due as its proximity and the ease of access to the Central Area, popular schools, parks and other parts of Singapore; combined with an

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

environment that is near forest and

reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

tends to make property prices in the area significantly higher than other parts of Singapore. Due to this fact, a large number of condominiums can be found in Thomson as well. These include the likes of Meadows@Peirce, Thomson Grove, Lattice One, Adana@Thomson, Peirce View, Flame Tree Park and Thomson Grand. Private

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

makes up the bulk of the housing in Thomson with a modicum of HDB

flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

s and

shophouse A shophouse is a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business. It is defined in dictionary as a building type found in Southeast Asia that is "a shop opening on to the pavement and also used as the owner's residence", a ...

s. The low rise housing in the area is notable and this stretches from MacRitchie Reservoir to the Peirce Reservoirs, consisting of neighbourhoods like the Thomson Ridge area, the Little Canada area and Venus drive, and goes up to Jalan Rebana and passing through the junction of Ang Mo Kio towards Seraya Crescent, Nemesu Avenue, Casuarina Road and Jalan Leban, arching at the Thomson Hills and Happy Park areas and culminating at the Teacher's Estate which lies along Yio Chu Kang road.

Infrastructure

Transportation

The area also contains one of the oldest roads in Singapore, which is also one of the longest and tends to be a vital link from the northern part of Singapore to the Central Area and the

Downtown Core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

, as well as the rest of the island. The road is split into two lengths, Thomson Road, and

Upper Thomson Road Thomson Road is a major trunk road linking Singapore's central business district with the northern suburban areas of the country. The road is one of the longest in Singapore, starting from Novena in the south towards MacRitchie Reservoir, before ...

. Along

, there is also the Upper Thomson MRT station that runs along the Thomson-East Coast Line.

Recreation

There is a variety of popular food establishments, such as

roti prata Roti canai (pronunciation: /tʃanaɪ/) or roti prata, also known as roti chenai and roti cane (/tʃane/), is an Indian flatbread dish found in several countries in Southeast Asia, especially in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thaila ...

shops, along the main road which runs through the area.

References