Upper Cross Street

Upper Cross Street (Chinese: 克罗士街上段) is a street located in Chinatown within the Outram Planning Area in Singapore. The street starts after Cross Street at the junction of Cross Street and South Bridge Road, with the street ending at the junction of Chin Swee Road, Havelock Road and Clemenceau Avenue. The street then continues on to Havelock Road. There are a number of shophouses on the street, housing restaurants and shops, with a Spring Court restaurant along the street. The Housing and Development Board development, Hong Lim Complex is also located on this street. Other landmarks include Yue Hwa Building (the former Great Southern Hotel), OG People's Park, Hotel 81 Chinatown, Chinatown Point and the Subordinate Courts. The entrance to the Central Expressway towards the north.

Upper Cross Street
A row of shophouses on Upper Cross Street.
Junction with New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street

Etymology and history

Upper Cross Street used to be the western boundary of the Chinatown area, which extended from Boat Quay to Cross Street. Until the early 20th century, the Indian meat and spice traders resided on this street at the New Bridge Road part of the street). The Indians also had a Tamil school located on the street, and was demolished to construct the Singapore Investment Trust government quarters' building. In the 1950s till the late 1970s, shophouses on this street used to have Chinese funeral requirements, such as wreaths and funeral bands. The sanitation system in most of the shophouses were using the night soil system with honey buckets, until flush toilets were introduced when the shophouses were upgraded and restored.

The Chinese called the street Hai San Street as the secret society bearing the same name was located there. The street was also known as Kling Street (kling is a local reference to Indians) as there was a community of Indian traders living in the area in the early years of modern Singapore.

Landmarks

These are the prominent landmarks along Upper Cross Street (from east to west).

References
  • Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2004), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern University Press, ISBN 981-210-364-3


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