Mix of heritage and luxury

/ The Edge Property |

July 2, 2015 9:00 AM SGT

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A rare Good Class Bungalow steeped in history is on the market with a price tag of $37.5 million. Will it set a new price benchmark in Binjai Park, a neighbourhood that has not seen a bungalow transaction in three years?

Six years ago, action movie actor Jet Li brought a whiff of star power to the quiet Good Class Bungalow neighbourhood located off Bukit Timah Road when he purchased a house on Binjai Rise for $19.8 million ($871 psf). The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) that Li bought had earned a reputation as a “party house” when it belonged to the founder of fashion retailer FJ Benjamin, who used to throw glamorous parties where invited guests included former football star and celebrity David Beckham.

Long before the stars descended on Binjai Park, however, the neighbourhood was popular with quite a different crowd: doctors. “Every stone you turned over, there was a doctor waiting on the other side,” says a GCB owner who only wants to be known as Indra. She has been a resident of Binjai Park for nearly 40 years, having purchased her home in the late 1970s. However, she recently put her property on the market.

Renowned doctors who had once called Binjai Park home included heart surgeon Dr Earl Lu, cardiologist Dr Charles Toh and orthopaedic surgeon Dr Kandasamy V Pillay. “There were so many of them,” Indra recalls.

Her husband is a retired doctor, and the two previous owners of her home were also doctors. The only non-doctor who owned the property was the first occupant, a businessman who hailed from an old wealthy family, the Basapas, who owned many properties across Singapore.

Back in 1950, the original house that sat on the site was a single-storey bungalow abutting a forest and a kampong. The property was surrounded by fruit trees. “It was the first house to be built at Binjai Park,” says Indra. And the address of the house then was No 1 Binjai Park.

“In those days, the area was so remote, not many people wanted to move there,” she notes. That has since changed as the Binjai Park neighbourhood evolved and more houses were built. Property prices have also risen, like in the rest of Singapore.

In 1979, Indra paid less than $500,000 (or $24 psf) for the property at Binjai Park that sits on a sprawling freehold 21,000 sq ft site. When she and her husband purchased the house, it was tenanted to a British expatriate couple. They had the house renovated before moving in in 1980.

Extensive makeover In 1998, Indra and her husband undertook a makeover of the GCB, resulting in a double-storey courtyard-style house with two wings. “The original house was all walled up, but I wanted an open concept,” she says.

The construction took two years, and Indra and her husband lived on the property while it was being renovated. They lived in the main house while the new wing was being built. When that was completed, they moved to the new wing. The original house was gutted and rebuilt, with a second storey added. “Fortunately, none of our children was here at the time,” she says.

Indra is an avid collector of art, antiques and artefacts, and this can be seen throughout her home, which is itself a piece of art. “I have a lot of antiques that I bought in my travels, especially to India, Indonesia and Thailand,” she says. “I also have a lot of pieces that had belonged to my grandmother when she first came to Singapore in 1890, so there’s a lot of history here.”

While a lot of her pieces came from antique dealers, some of her more interesting finds were those she chanced upon. An example is the pillars of knotted pine with beautiful intricate designs that had once been part of a mosque in South India and is said to date back to the 17th century. When Indra came across the pillars, they were lying in a dump, destined to be used as firewood. However, she rescued them and had them restored and shipped to Singapore. They now adorn her master suite.

Many of the ornamental woodwork around the house — from the windows to the door frames and veranda — are handcrafted by craftsmen from India, and they feature the mythological swans, hamsa.

Indra had engaged Siti Siraj, a young architect then with SZ Architects, who is currently with Design International Architects, to design the house. Indra had worked closely with the architect to create spaces to display the various items in her collection.

Materials, details A lot of attention was paid to the materials used. For example, all the doors and windows of the house are of teak, with bronze doorknobs and hinges. The timber flooring on the upper levels are of solid teak. The exterior wall of the house is of an antique Italian coral stone. The flooring in the dining room and living room are a marriage of stonework — Italian marble with mother of pearl trim. The bathrooms are a play of star galaxy granite, marble and various other stones. “It was a nightmare for the contractor, but I told him to work with me,” Indra says.

On the first level of the main house are the living room and dining room, with doors opening out to the patio on one side, and the veranda on the other. The patio overlooks the garden and a waterfall, while the veranda has views of a koi pond, water features and the garden. The guest bedroom on the first level of the main house used to be the master bedroom of the original house. The book-lined study with double-volume ceiling is Indra’s favourite part of the house, and it is where she does her writing. She is the author of several heritage books. A spiral staircase from her study leads to the master suite on the second level.

The master suite occupies the entire second level of the house. The master bedroom alone is about 1,300 sq ft, and has a vaulted ceiling. It is her husband’s favourite part of the house, as it is where he reads and watches television. The room is so spacious that a corner has been carved out for his study.

The master bathroom, at 400 sq ft, is the size of a studio apartment. The walls are of black marble and there is a raised bathtub with a goldplated tap in the shape of a swan head, a vanity top with intricate woodcarvings of swans, and an antique washstand with double bowls. There is also a separate shower and water closet. The bathroom even attracted a spa operator in Little India to do a photo shoot there a month ago.

The main house is connected to the new wing or annex block by a series of rooms — the helpers’ rooms and the utility room, two adjacent gourmet-style kitchens and a shrine room. The annex block contains four bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, and each level is designed as a self-contained apartment with its own sitting room.

The veranda of the house with its intricate wooden carvings

Full house The house was designed for a big, extended family. Although it has six bedrooms, if necessary, the shrine room and the study can also be turned into extra bedrooms, says Indra. Every summer holiday, her four children, their spouses and five grandchildren (with a sixth on the way) will return to Singapore. “In August, I’m expecting an influx, because it’s not just my kids, but my sisters’ kids as well,” she adds. “But we somehow manage to house all of them.”

Christmas time is also a busy period at Indra’s home. That’s when her sisters, their families and her husband’s family will visit them. “From Dec 17 to New Year’s Day, we will have people coming and going,” she says. “My daughter says, ‘Mum, we clear one meal, and we’re setting the table for another’.”

However, none of Indra’s four children is living in Singapore, even though they are still Singapore citizens. Her eldest daughter lives in Melbourne, and the two younger daughters as well as her son are in the UK. She therefore decided to rent out the annex block.

The apartment on the first level was leased to a Canadian expatriate who lived there for five years before returning to his home country. The apartment on the second level has been rented out to a German expatriate who has been living there for the past four years. “With the children away, I wanted people to live in that wing of the house,” explains Indra. “I don’t like to see it empty. A house has to have [people and] noise.”

Empty nesters Indra and her husband forked out close to $3 million renovating and redecorating the house 17 years ago. “I spent a lot of money on finishings because I felt that it was going to be our home forever,” says Indra. “Whatever was built here was meant to last, as it was built for the children. Little did I know that they would not come back.”

Now that they are both in their golden years, Indra and her husband are thinking of selling the house. “We had a lot of people knocking on our doors in the past,” she says. “But at the time, we didn’t want to sell. Now, because of our age, I think it’s time for us to give up that part of our lives and start travelling.”

The house is in good condition, as it has been well maintained over the years, says Benson Koh, managing partner of SRI5000, a division of SLP Realty, which is marketing the property. He feels that the new owner will most likely retain the house and just embark on minor additions and alterations. Building a new GCB today will cost anywhere from $2 million to $5 million, depending on materials used, he estimates. “Construction cost has also gone up.”

Koh reckons the property will attract interest from those who appreciate design and quality. “The owners are frequently approached by designers, including a top-end Italian furnishing company a year ago, seeking permission to host prestigious events in their home,” he says. “The designers obviously see its potential for conversion into something with a modern touch.” Several years ago, the house was even a venue for a jewellery fashion show.

The asking price for the property is $37.5 million ($1,786 psf). “It’s a choice plot of land that is rarely available,” notes Koh. “There are many prominent people who are residents, some of whom have lived here for many years. That is why there hasn’t been that many transactions at Binjai Park.”

The most recent GCB transaction at Binjai Park was three years ago, in July 2012, when a newly built house sitting on a 22,357 sq ft plot was sold for $32.9 million ($1,471 psf). Another new GCB with a land area of 20,000 sq ft fetched $31 million ($1,550 psf) in April 2012.

Indra’s house is ideal for those who love to entertain. In the past, she used to hold dinner parties for 200 to 300 people. Both her eldest and youngest daughters celebrated their weddings at home — in 2002 and 2003 respectively — and there were up to 800 guests. These days, she still entertains at home. “But it’s a sit-down dinner for eight to 10 people,” she says.

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 680 (June 8) of The Edge Singapore.

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