Birthplace of a million: Former KK Hospital buildings set to join Singapore’s national monuments list
SINGAPORE, Sept 6 — Singapore is set to recognise one of its most storied hospitals as a national monument, with three blocks of the former Kandang Kerbau Hospital in Hampshire Road slated for preservation.
The Straits Times reported yesterday that Singapore’s National Heritage Board (NHB) had listed the site as a proposed national monument on its heritage resource portal, Roots.gov.sg.
The three surviving blocks — built between the 1930s and 1950s — were described by NHB as “representative buildings of the former hospital and showcase the hospital’s instrumental role in advancing midwifery, maternal and gynaecological care in Singapore”.
The hospital’s origins date back to 1858, when it opened as Singapore’s fifth general hospital in an area known as Kandang Kerbau. It began admitting patients with gynaecological conditions in 1868, but its modern identity took shape on October 1, 1924, when it was officially designated as a free maternity hospital.
According to NHB, that moment marked “the beginning of the hospital’s specialised role in maternal healthcare”.
The site went on to witness major medical milestones. Dr Benjamin Sheares, who later became Singapore’s second president, pioneered a surgical procedure at the hospital to create a neovagina for women born without one.
NHB credited the hospital’s doctors and midwives with lowering maternal and infant mortality rates and driving the post-war baby boom between 1945 and the 1960s.
By the time the hospital relocated in 1997 to its current premises at Bukit Timah Road — renamed KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital — more than 1.2 million babies had been delivered there.
Of the three blocks earmarked for preservation, Block 2 is the oldest, dating to 1933. Block 3 followed in 1940, while Block 1 — completed between 1953 and 1955 — became the main facade facing Hampshire Road.
Designed by Dr Sheares and chief government architect KA Bundle, it housed air-conditioned wards, a student hostel and an operating theatre.
NHB highlighted the structures’ architectural significance, from the wooden-louvred windows of Block 2 to the concrete hoods and larger openings of Block 1, which reflected mid-20th-century advances in design and materials.
“The site holds particular significance in Singapore’s collective memory, having played a crucial role during the early growing years of the nation,” NHB said.
It added that the gazette, expected ahead of Singapore’s 60th year of independence in 2025, “will pay tribute to Kandang Kerbau Hospital’s contributions during the early nation-building years”.
The three blocks, now state-owned and leased to the Land Transport Authority for office use, will become Singapore’s 76th national monument if formally gazetted.
Other healthcare-related sites already on the list include the College of Medicine Building and Tan Teck Guan Building near the Singapore General Hospital.
[Source: Malay Mail]
