Lavender is a subzone within the planning area of

Kallang Kallang ( ) is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential zone located in the Central Region, Singapore, Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the l ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, as defined by the

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of National Development (Singapore), Ministry of National De ...

(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; ) is a small, canalised river in Kallang of the Central Region in Singapore. The river is about 0.8 km in length. Description The Rochor River is a continuation of the Rochor Canal, and begins ben ...

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

Serangoon Road ''Serangoon Road'' is an Australian-Singaporean drama television series that premiered on 22 September 2013 on ABC and HBO Asia. It is a detective noir drama set in Singapore in the mid-1960s. The series takes its name from the eponymous roa ...

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; often referred to as the Housing Board; ; ; ), is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of National Development (Singapore), Ministry of National Developmen ...

(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 football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that includes the stadium as ...

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

Jalan Besar Jalan Besar ( , zh, c=惹兰勿刹; 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. Jalan Besar MRT station is located under ...

, 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 communities and social organisations. Established in 1960, it was part of ...

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA, zh, 移民與關卡局；) is a law enforcement agency within the Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border c ...

(ICA) Building,

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple or Sri Perumal Temple () is one of the oldest temples in Singapore. It is located in Little India within the planning area of Kallang along Serangoon Road, where its tall ''Gopuram'' (tower) shows the different incar ...

Mustafa Centre Mustafa Centre is a shopping mall in Singapore, situated 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 and Jalan Besar station on the North E ...

, Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre and

City Square Mall City Square Mall () 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's historic New World Amusement Park and is directly conne ...

. 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 promine ...

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 whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

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

Little India Little India (also known as Indian Street, India Bazaar, or India Town) is an Indian people, Indian or South Asian sociocultural environment outside India or the Indian subcontinent. It especially refers to an area with a significant concentra ...

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 (Singapore), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the East West MRT line, East West line in Kallang, Singapore. Located under Kallang Road, the station is close to the Immigration and Checkp ...

and

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

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 either 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 City Energy, Singapore Gas Company and occu ...

in the vicinity, or the use of nightsoil as fertilizer at nearby farms. The name was suggested by residents of the area as tongue-in-cheek humour.

References

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