A Tourist At Home: Dhoby Ghaut

A patch of green in the original Dhoby Ghaut. The art deco building in the background is the Rendezvous Hotel.

Dhoby Ghaut is the district at the end of busy Orchard Road, where it meets Bras Basah, Stamford and Selegie Roads. It got its name from the "dhobis", who were the Indian laundries who used to dry their wares in the large field that used to occupy this locality. Only a small patch of this field still exists (above), surrounded by the many buildings. Today it is a vibrant entertainment cum education hub, bounded by the new School of the Arts and Singapore Management University.

The imposing School of the Arts Building dwarfs the facade of Cathay Cineplexes. 

Two views of the art deco facade of Cathay Cineplexes, with its scalloped fins. The glass building behind replaced the old Cathay Building, which was once the tallest office building in Southeast Asia. 

This is the only stretch of Orchard Road that remains unchanged from the 1960s.  The red-bricked building on the left is MacDonald House, built in the 1930s, and the site of an Indonesian terrorist bombing which killed 2 people in 1965.

The massive Park Mall shopping centre (formerly Supreme House) sits on the edge of Fort Canning. It is known for its interior design and furniture companies. In the foreground is the entrance to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, which serves three lines: NS, NW and Circle lines.

Quaint looking Orchard Road Presbyterian Church.

A Christian banner masquerading as a property advertisement in front of the Orchard Road Presbyterian Church. The annex to is church is infamous for the Curry Murder of the 1980s, where the victim (a drunkard and wife-beater) was allegedly dismembered and cooked in a large curry vat, with the remains scattered all over the island.  

Look! Its Russian cellist Yuri Bashmet (seated) enjoying a smoke at the edge of Handy Road.

A panoramic view of Dhoby Ghaut taken from the bus-stop outside the YMCA Building.