Eng Aun Tong Building

Photos: NAS / Chinatown.sg

📍 On the corner of Neil Road and Craig Road stands a majestic building, which has been around since the 1920s. The Eng Aun Tong (English: Hall of Everlasting Peace), located on 89 Neil Road, was build by the Haw Par Brothers in the 1920s. It was where the famous Tiger Balm ointment was produced for some 50-odd years.

The building was built in the Neoclassical style — a hybrid design that mixes columns, cornices and arches. It has a distinctive hexagonal pavilion at the top of the building (which some say pays tribute to the auspicious shape of the Tiger Balm jar), and in the past had a model of a tiger embellishing its front. The building’s facade has taken on different colours over the years -- the windows were once yellow and red but are now off-white -- but the iconic structures have remained.

In 1992, the building was given conservation status under URA’s Voluntary Conservation Scheme. And today, it stands within the Bukit Pasoh Conservation Area, along with many other architectural and historical sites. One example is the blue concrete bridge on Neil Road, just past the Eng Aun Tong Building, which goes over the first rail corridor conservation project — now called Duxton Plain Park.

In Singapore, where the wheels of progress never grind to a halt, we make the effort to also conserve the places and spaces that hold history and meaning for us. These places tell the story of our past as we move to the future. #HEREitage

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