Joo Chiat Series
This area in Singapore might have long remained under swaying coconut palms
and fruit trees owned by the wealthy Arab Alsagoff family, if Chinese landowner
Chew Joo Chiat had not acquired it, laid out roads and constructed
rows of lovely terrace houses which still stand today.
Once bordered by picturesque kampongs (Malay villages) with musical names
like Geylang Serai and Tanjong Katong, Joo Chiat boasts some of the finest
examples of the Singapore eclectic style of architecture.
 This
happy marriage of Chinese and Western housing design is also called the
Singapore Baroque.
Doric columns, western-style roofs, and brilliantly coloured wall tiles
from Italy with flowers in relief, were wedded to Chinese facade panels
depicting dragons and Chinese mythological animals which have no Western
equivalent. All these elegant touches and more are captured in The Little
Island 'Joo Chiat' series of Decorative Wall Plaques. | 
