Old balustrades

Balustrade outside temple  (Tong Sian Tng Temple, built 1870) at Devonshire Road. Pic taken March 2014. I remember there was a little sandy short cut near this temple which I took to my night classes at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts when it was at St Thomas Walk. That was way back in the early 80s. The path led  up a slope through a little enclave. But now, the place is filled with posh condos. I remember Shui Hing was still in Orchard Road then and if I were early, I would window shop there before I go for my graphic art class (which I never got to complete and graduate with a diploma). 

The building that's next to the temple also sports a nice balustrade on its roof top.  

Corner house at the 'mouth' of Kim Yam Road, just as it meets River Valley Road.. Nice balustrades, no?

NEXT to old spiral staircases, I like the old balustrades of Singapore. Aside from the word which has a nice ring to it (I think Phua Chu Kang would love to include this in his vocab aside from his fa-ca-dei and par-quat), I like the old fashioned vase-like shape of the baluster, very unlike those skinny and arty ones of today gracing staircases and balconies. The word itself, was derived from the name of a flower (balausta) -- wild pomegranate flower. Or rather, the bud of one -- half open and definitely plump.

If I remember rightly, Raffles Hotel has some nice green ones along its verandas and parapets. Shall go and take some pictures soon. Meanwhile, some balustrades of yore, taken way back in the 80s of houses along Adis and Sophia Roads.

This grand house at Adis Road with grand balustrades. Pic: 1982.

This old house (gone now probably) along Adis Road did not have those vase-like balusters but very charming nevertheless.

Now, this one did. Nice, stout ones.  Picture was reproduced from contact prints salvaged from my S'pore Monitor days as a reporter  in the early 1980s.