It’s interesting to read the archives about the early days of St. John’s Home.

On 9 April 1956, the English Language Press reported the following:

“St. John’s Home to be built if $30,000 is raised at Wan Tho Avenue, Sennett Estate as a sanctuary for several dozen penniless and alone old folks. The movement is led by Rev Yap Chor Seng (sic), 17B Robinson Road.”

On 13 April 1956, it reported that “each cottage will cost $17,000 and will accommodate 25 people. One of the Committee members, Mr Poh Lau, said, “No discrimination of race or religion will be shown. Men and women of all races will be welcome.”

The first 5 buildings of the Home were completed in 1958. Since then, the Home has continued to be located at Wan Tho Avenue. It has provided shelter and care to more than 1,200 poor and needy elderly persons. It has held to its philosophy of “no discrimination of race or religion”.

Thus far, it has held on to its buildings too. They have an archaic, rustic appearance, reminding one of “kampong days” in Singapore’s history.

But this will not be for long. With urbanisation and modernisation, it will be necessary for the Home to undertake a redevelopment to maximise land use in land-scarce Singapore. Indeed, some of the buildings will have to be pulled down as shortly as less than two years’ time to make way for new development, as planning is underway to build a new St. John’s Home in January 2019.

All the more, therefore, one can’t help but reminiscene the early days of the Home's history.

Another English Press report of those early days dated 20 January 1958 gave an update of the building efforts then stating,

“They (the Board Committee then) would concentrate in the first place on construction costing about $100,000. This would consist of 4 dormitories, a dining hall and a kitchen and would accommodate 50 old people.”

These buildings (the 4 dormitories, dining hall and kitchen) are still in use at St. John’s Home today. Other buildings were added on in later years.

One building which I particularly like (but which will have to make way for the new development in about two years’ time) is made of bricks. It has a beautiful, red brick wall facade – displaying the careful craft of the mason laying one brick after another to build a wall.

This seems to be a lost art in building nowadays as we don’t see such buildings anymore.

It is therefore with nostalgia as I think that that building, and others too which have their own beauty, will one day no longer be physically around and could only be viewed from the pages of the archives.

It seems like the Home has taken a full cycle and is now doing the same work it did in the early days, of embarking on construction all over again to build a new Home for the poor, the needy and “the penniless old folks” to care for them.

But now, we have the example of those who had laboured before to inspire us in doing the work. And what an excellent example they have set for us!