MOTORISTS driving on Mountbatten Road will be familiar with this Katong landmark amid a row of sprawling bungalows.

MOTORISTS driving on Mountbatten Road will be familiar with this Katong landmark amid a row of sprawling bungalows.

At 745 Mountbatten Road stands the former Chans’ Ville, a two-storey Early Modern-style bungalow.

It was the home of the late Dr Chan Ah Kow and his seven children - including Alex, Roy, Patricia and Mark - who were well known in the 1960s and 1970s for their swimming prowess.

The Chan family, who lived there from the mid-1940s, sold it to property investor Simon Cheong of SC Global for $11 million in 2004.

When contacted, musician Mark Chan would say only that ‘we now live’all over’.

Today, Chans’ Ville, which sat on 55,000 sq ft of land, is known as the Five Legends of Mountbatten. It is SC Global’s first bungalow project.

The original bungalow, which was given conservation status by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 1993, occupies 23,000 sq ft of land. The remaining space, which used to house a tennis court and garden, was split into four plots ranging from 5,574 sq ft to 10,168 sq ft.

Four two-storey bungalows were built and reportedly sold for $5.1 million to $6.3 million. Chans’ Ville fetched $13 million.

SC Global says the buyers are high-net worth individuals, but declines to reveal more.

Mr Cheong says the name was inspired by the five ‘legends’ who lived there - Dr Chan Ah Kow, Patricia, Alex, Roy and Mark.

Though not a Katong boy, Mr Cheong frequented the Chinese Swimming Club nearby when he was younger and had many relatives and friends who lived in the area.

‘It would be a pity if Chans’ Ville was not conserved well,’ he says.

He picked architect Mok Wei Wei of W Architects to work on the project as he felt the latter ‘had the passion and shared vision to return Chans’ Ville back to its former glory in Katong’.

He declines to disclose how much was spent restoring it, but says ‘we were willing to invest whatever it took to do it well’.

Observing conservation rules

MR MOK, 51, is no stranger to SC Global, having designed upmarket condo Three Three Robin in Robin Road and is working on Hilltops condo in Cairnhill.

For Chans’ Ville, he kept most of the house intact according to URA guidelines.

For example, a second-storey balcony had awnings that were installed after the house was built. Mr Mok wanted to retain them but eventually kept to the original open balcony under conservation guidelines.

Other items that remained include metal casement windows and most of the original green-glass window panels.

He also stuck to the house’s original white facade: ‘I cannot imagine it in any other colour.’

Because of the bungalow’s spaciousness, he imagined the new owners to be a multi-tiered family living together under one roof, as was typical of families living in the East Coast in the past.

So he added two wings to the back of the house. Each is two-storey high and comes with its own living room and bedrooms. All in, the whole mansion has six bedroom suites.

SC Global does not know whether a multi-tiered family has indeed bought the bungalow.

The extensions are linked to the main house by a double-volume banquet hall that can seat 20 people, allowing diners to look out into the lush greenery outside.

For the four new bungalows, however, Mr Mok conceptualised them as a ‘walled city’, each having its own garden and pool that are placed almost next to each other, creating the illusion of a shared space.

In addition, each home has an extra family area at the back for entertainment. Guests can gather in the living room in the front of the house for pre-dinner drinks, before moving to the middle for dinner, and finally to the back for post-dinner drinks.

‘The extra space was created at the back for privacy, and it can be turned into a bedroom if needed,’ says Mr Mok, whose last bungalow project was a house in Morley Road 10 years ago.

A glass-enclosed staircase acts as a ’screen’ separating the front and back of the house, and leads to the four bedrooms upstairs. He says this makes the home more exciting as the visitor cannot see the whole house all at once.

‘It allows for more discovery.’

Source : Straits Times - 8 Sept 2007