Fodor's Expert Review House of Tan Yeok Nee
Editor's Note: This location is reported to be under new ownership and therefore this review may contain inaccuracies.
The house was built around 1885 for Tan Yeok Nee (1827–1902), a merchant from China who began his career here as a cloth peddler and became a very wealthy man through trade in opium, gambier (a kind of herb), and pepper. Although most homes built in Singapore at that time followed European styles, this townhouse was designed in a style popular in South China—notice the keyhole gables, terra-cotta tiles, and massive granite pillars. After the railway was laid along Tank Road in 1901, the house became the stationmaster's. In 1912 St. Mary's Home and School for Girls took it over. In 1940 the Salvation Army made the place its local headquarters. It's now home to the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business's Asia Campus.
