SG's Dream Bungalows

Peak inside some of the most coveted of Red Dot homes: Good Class Bungalows.

- Lea Wee, Tay Suan Chiang + Geoffrey Eu

Good Class Bungalows are the jewels of Singapore property.They are the biggest of all bungalows and a rarity, with only about 2,800 set on prime plots on the island. While some bungalows are historic buildings more than 100 years old, others have been built in a contemporary style in recent years.

A number are secluded on the slopes of the few remaining hills in Singapore – Bukit Tunggal, Caldecott Hill and Cluny Hill – on the sites of the country’s first plantations.

Set in lush gardens, these dwellings are the subject of the 2016 book Singapore Good Class Bungalow 1819-2015 by British architect and academic Robert Powell. It traces almost 200 years of the history of Singapore bungalows.

In his book, Professor Powell writes that the term Good Class Bungalow Area was first mentioned in the revised masterplan by the then Ministry of National Development in 1980, in an effort to protect the “high environment quality” of the larger bungalows from the intrusion of other intensive development.