Arab Street. Sultan Mosque. Key Muslim Heritage Centre.
Arab Street lies between Victoria Street and Beach Road in the Kampong Glam area, and was part of the Rochor Planning Area of Singapore’s Central Region. Sir Stamford Raffles had designated the Kampong Glam area as the most appropriate area for Arabs to live in. Other streets nearby are also named after Arabian cities. These include Bussorah Street, Muscat Street and Baghdad Street. Arab Street is the centre of Muslim activities in that area, and is famed for its speciality shops, Muslim restaurants and more.

Arab Street today is still a key Muslim centre in Singapore, with Sultan Mosque as the heart of Kampong Glam.8 The area is home to many chic shops and eateries, besides the traditional textile and handicraft shops, and people from all walks of life gather here to savour its culture, colour and cuisine.9 Built between 1840 and 1900, Singapore’s “first-generation” shophouses of squat two-storey buildings, with one or two windows on the upper floor, can be found in the Kampong Glam district.

On 7 July 1989, Kampong Glam was gazetted a conservation area by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Arab Street comes under this conservation area. Between 1993 and 1994, the Arab Street/Baghdad Street/Bussorah Street area came under the URA’s conservation pilot project, which stipulated that the first storey of the shophouses be used as retail spaces. It became the third such project, after Chinatown and Little India, when 10 parcels of restored shophouses were put up for sale by public tender.

By 1997, 48 shophouses in Kampong Glam had been restored and sold to landlords and retailers, changing the retail mix of this historical district.

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