‘New organs’
Timothy Chia’s favourite part of his family home at Lornie Road is a balcony on the second floor of the double-storey bungalow. From there, one has a commanding view of the landscaped garden on the 33,000 sq ft property. As a child, that same balcony offered him and his brothers a vantage view of the goldfish swimming below. “We would throw lines down to try and catch them,” relates the 69-year-old chairman of Hup Soon Global Corp, an industrial equipment and automotive products distributor. “I still remember those days when we were young.”
There used to be two durian trees on the property, but they had to be cut down because the squirrels would eat the fruit before anyone else had a chance, says Chia.
Such recollections by Chia and his elder sister Jennifer were instrumental in architect Darren Yio’s decision to retain the original Art Deco-style house built in 1939. The property had been owned by Chia’s family since the 1950s. However, after the passing of his father, Charlie Chia Cheng Guan, the former head of United Motor Works in 2011, and his mother, Janet Chia, a year later, the Good Class Bungalow (GCB) had been unoccupied until 2018.
That was when Chia, who owns the majority stake in the property, decided that it needed an update and engaged Yio, the founder of Archetype Studio, as the design architect. Yio had designed Chia’s GCB in the Bishopsgate area nearly a decade ago, when he was still under the employment of SCDA Architects.
The GCB at Bishopsgate was designed according to a high level of specifications, featuring the latest gizmos that Chia wanted for his new home. However, when it was completed in 2011, it was tenanted, and then left vacant, before a “newly-minted Singapore citizen” swooped in and bought it for $33 million in 2015, according to a caveat lodged then. “I never got to spend a single night at the bungalow at Bishopsgate,” says Chia, who has since bought another GCB on Nassim Road, which is his current home.
At the GCB on Lornie Road, while the exterior design has been preserved, the walls had to be strengthened and reinforced with granite on the first level and aluminium cladding on the upper level. The air-conditioning system was overhauled; new electrical wiring was installed; and the kitchen and bathrooms, as well as limestone flooring of the house, are all new. “Basically, all the organs of the house are new,” says Yio.
As Chia wanted the house to be used for entertainment and extended family gatherings, Yio removed the wall separating the kitchen and the dining room, so that guests can see the chef in action. Behind the dry kitchen is the wet kitchen, which leads to an outdoor kitchen. Yio even consulted Michelin-starred chef, Emmanuel Stroobant, on the plan and design of the kitchen, including some of the equipment specifications.
The covered patio around the house was extended. This way, all the glass sliding doors in the living and dining area can be opened up to create a bigger indoor-outdoor entertainment area.