Looming above the low rise shophouses of Singapore’s Chinatown stands the mighty modernist slab block of People’s Park Tower, an unmissable icon of Singapore’s early post independence architectural design.

Completed in 1973, People’s Park Complex was the first the first large scale mixed use development of its kind in Southeast Asia, and a trend setting development which encompassed live/work/play under one roof.

Arranged around two interlocking atria, the designers envisaged a “Shophouse City” echoing the bustling informal streets surrounding the lost Pearl’s Market – a market which previously occupied the site, before being destroyed in a fire.

Lower floors are occupied by shops selling various wares, with upper floors dominated by travel agencies, remittance and massage parlours. A large event plaza is often in use, attracting large numbers of the pioneer generation who live in the surrounding, aging HDB flats.

The large Chinese characters, 珍珠坊, are embedded on the narrow façade facing Eu Tong Sen Street, roughly echoing its English name

A deserted rooftop car park on the top of the podium offers good views of the surrounding district and one can admire the hundreds of dripping air condensers and aging concrete up close

Pictured in late 2019, with the now demolished Pearl Bank Apartments in its final shrouded days.