Mural memorialises Thambi Magazine Store, Chip Bee Gardens

When local artist Ronnie Tan, 71, was commissioned by SMRT to create a mural about Holland Village’s cultural heritage, he knew it would be a special project.

Over more than 40 years of living in the Bukit Timah area, he frequented popular haunts in Holland Village with his wife and three children almost every weekend.

It took five months for him to research the area, choose suitable landmarks to capture in the mural, and decide on a drawing technique.

Now, commuters passing through Holland Village MRT station can learn about the area’s cultural heritage via a 10m-long mural beside the passenger service centre.

Two of the four landmarks depicted no longer exist – Thambi Magazine Store and the Dutch windmill on top of Holland Village Shopping Mall.

The other two landmarks are Chip Bee Gardens, and the intersection of Lorong Liput and Lorong Mambong.

Mr Tan, who still lives in the area, said he chose to use an “ink and wash” technique, where he first sketched scenes using a fountain pen, and then added splashes of colour using the wet method.

This allowed the colour to spread naturally on the paper when applied.

He said: “The challenge was really capturing the place without it looking too realistic. I don’t think that would have done it justice.”

The mural was launched on Sept 7 by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, who is an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC and oversees the Buona Vista ward.

SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming said that in an effort to transform MRT stations into inclusive community spaces, the comic-style murals offer glimpses into the community history surrounding them.

“We really hope that this mural captures the unique charm of Holland Village, reflecting its distinctive character and heritage landmarks. For those who grew up here or visited often, we hope it brings back fond memories,” he said.

Launched in June 2022 to commemorate SMRT’s 35th anniversary, the first Comic Connect mural was unveiled at Toa Payoh station, one of the first five stations to start operations in Singapore in 1987.

At Serangoon MRT station, World War II hero Lim Bo Seng and members of Force 136, a group of resistance fighters formed by the British, are immortalised in a mural celebrating the heritage of the Hougang-Serangoon area.

It was designed by a group of Year 5 students from the School of the Arts Singapore’s visual arts programme.

The mural at Woodlands MRT station was designed by three trainees from the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore at the Woodlands Employment Development Centre.

It depicts landmarks situated near the Causeway that are no longer there, such as Kampung Fatimah and Woodlands Town Centre.

The latest one at Holland Village is the 33rd mural out of 35 planned by SMRT.

The last two will be unveiled at Ang Mo Kio and Choa Chu Kang MRT stations by the end of 2024.

Mr Tan also designed the mural for Kranji MRT station in January 2024, using a charcoal technique to capture the history and nature of the neighbourhood.

The illustrations include the Kranji War Memorial and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Singapore’s first Asean Heritage Park.

Mr Tan said Thambi Magazine Store was his source of art, design and architecture magazines for more than 40 years. “I had been buying magazines there since I was a student. They had titles you don’t get elsewhere, like in design, art and architecture,” he said.

The store was started by Mr P. Govindasamy in the 1940s as a newspaper distribution service.

After more than eight decades, it closed on May 5.

His grandson, Mr Periathambi Senthil Murugan, better known as Sam, 49, ran the store at Holland Road Shopping Centre since the 1990s.

He said it moved four times in Holland Village.

Sam closed shop after the landlords asked him to remove the outdoor shelves and confine business activities to the shop interior.

He felt doing so would defeat the tradition of having an open display or a “magazine cave” – a key feature of the business since its inception.

Sam has yet to find a suitable location within the area to reopen.

He said: “I am happy they have captured the memory of the store in the mural, but am sad the store is no longer there.

“After more than three months, if it is hard to bring businesses back, people will forget us. But I am still trying nonetheless.”

Ms Spurthi V. Movva, an IT professional who has been living in the Holland Village area for about seven years, said the artwork cohesively brings together various aspects of the estate.

She added that she appreciated how the artist used an interesting technique to capture familiar landmarks and immortalise them in the mural. “If you haven’t been here for a while, it’s easy to forget things, like the Thambi Magazine Store. So, it’s nice to see these areas being remembered.”