Chee Guan Chiang House projectChee Guan Chiang House (1938 ), 25 Grange RoadI went in to the house for a photo shoot
Some info about the House:
Chee Guan Chiang House, built 1938 by architect Ho Kwong Yew, who also designed the original Haw Par Villa.
"The design is distinctly Modern in its language, and is influenced by the architecture of the Weissenhof Siedlung in Stuttgart in 1927 and by Erich Mendelsohn's design for the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill (UK) in 1935. The house has a plan that employs a semi-circular 'bow window' on an axis in a similar manner to the Bexhill pavilion."
-Singapore Architecture
The estate is now owned by Lee Tat Developements and had been abandoned for nearly 30 years now.
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Feb 25, 2005
'Shortcut' road: Firm loses 3-decade fight
Court of Appeal rules in favour of condo residents, ending row with property firm
By Elena Chong
A LEGAL tussle dating back three decades between a property development company and condominium residents - over who has the right of way on a strip of land near Orchard Road - may have finally reached its conclusion yesterday, when two out of three Court of Appeal judges ruled in the residents' favour.
Lee Tat Development had been attempting since the 1970s to stop the residents of the Grange Heights condominium from using a road adjacent to the condo as a shortcut to Grange Road and nearby Orchard Road shopping centres, bus stops and the MRT station.
Yesterday, in a majority decision, the Court of Appeal dismissed Lee Tat's appeal. The decision brings to an end a sometimes farcical territorial saga.
In 1989, the court granted the Grange Heights management corporation a temporary injunction against Lee Tat after the company had erected a fence outside the perimeter of the estate and an iron gate across the Grange Road entrance to the land.
The judge ruled that the right of way, in place since 1911, was still valid and residents could not be prevented from using the road.
In 1990, the High Court rejected an appeal by Lee Tat to have the injunction lifted.
Then in 1997, Lee Tat, having just bought the 883.4 sq m plot of land on which the road stood for $3 million, decided to try again.
The company erected two signboards and blocked the entrance to the road with a chain and rocks. They also hired a security guard to prevent 'trespassers'.
Once again, the Grange Heights management took the matter to court and won. But Lee Tat refused to follow the order and, in 1999, it landed up in court yet again, where it was fined $3,000 for contempt, with $10,000 costs.
On June 4 last year, Grange Heights applied to the court to repair and maintain the right of way at its own cost. Lee Tat was having none of it and started another action in September challenging the residents' right of way.
Justice Woo Bih Li threw out the application and Lee Tat took the case to the Court of Appeal.
In court yesterday, Lee Tat's Senior Counsel Tan Cheng Han argued that the company's ownership of the land had justified reopening the right of way issue.
Grange Heights' lawyer, Mr Edwin Lee, submitted that Lee Tat bought the land with full knowledge that his clients still had the right of way. He said the issue had already been decided by the courts.
Though Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin dissented, Chief Justice Yong Pung How and Justice Belinda Ang ruled in favour of Grange Heights.
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"But by 1970s they were abandoned. Lee Tat Development Pte Ltd is the owner of dominant tenements Lots 111-32 and 111-33. Lot 111-31 is only the servient tenement granted to the respective owners of Lots 111-32 and 111-33. "
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Overview of CGC House, India House and CK Tang residences:
My journal commences:
The old guardhouse and gateposts had been knocked over!
Notice, heck care! There's a pth that leads to Grange Heights condo. Just pretend you're a condo resident and walk up!
This was taken on my way down, but I posted it here, to show 2 paths.
Left path leads to the houses, right path leads to Grange Heights.
This is the left path. From here, you can see the garage of the 1st house
View from the path. The roof of 7 Grange Road and Meritus Mandarin. The sheer close distance between Orchard Road and these 2 houses is just too surreal.
