Katong & Joo Chiat

Katong and Joo Chiat together form a historic residential district in the east of Singapore, spread across the Marine Parade and Geylang planning areas and known for its Peranakan and Eurasian heritage. The Joo Chiat conservation area, stretching along Joo Chiat Road, East Coast Road and selected side streets, received conservation status on 23 July 1993. Its mainly two-storey shophouses and terrace houses are in the Transitional, Late and Art Deco styles. Joo Chiat takes its name from Chew Joo Chiat (1857 to 1926), the landowner known as the King of Katong.

The best-known street is Koon Seng Road, renamed in 1934 after the auctioneer and Municipal Commissioner Cheong Koon Seng. Its two and three-storey houses, most built in the 1920s and 1930s, have colourful facades and ornate Straits Eclectic details mixing Chinese, Malay and Western elements. Along East Coast Road, heritage trail landmarks include Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, a coffee shop known for kaya toast whose bakery business dates to 1925. Many of the conserved houses are private homes, so photograph from the street.

Tanjong Katong and Marine Parade stations on the Thomson-East Coast Line, opened on 23 June 2024, put the southern end of the district within walking distance of the MRT.