There was a period of time when a wave of nostalgia consisting of old animal-themed playgrounds hit Singaporeans. The most famous of them all was none other than the Pelican playground at Dover Vista Park. Once again, I was lucky enough to be able to pay a visit to the area just months before the playground was demolished.
Dover Road Estate
The Pelican playground was located at a small housing estate along Dover Road. There are 10 HDB flats and 1 market & food centre.
The flats were already vacated
Dover is named after a town of the same name in South East England. “Dover” is derived from the Celtic word meaning “The Waters” referring to the English Channel.
Provision shops that used to operate at the ground floors
The estate was selected for SERS in 2004, and was more or less vacated by 2010.
Dover Road Estate
Blk 29 was the first block to be demolished, some time around 2006 or 2007. However, it was not listed in the SERS announcement.
Void deck
A fitness club located at Blk 31
By the time I visited, the place was almost completely empty except for a few passers-by cutting through to reach AYE or NUS from Dover Road. There was a chilling sensation despite being under the hot sun.
Dover Road Estate
The covered walkway was in service for only 10 years
Chess tables located at the void decks
In early 2012, the adjacent Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD) decided to use a few of the vacated flats as make-shift school hostels for the students while its hostel facilities were being constructed.
Dover Road Estate
Constructed: 1977
Status: Lost
Demolished: 2011
The empty plot of land where the Market and Food Centre once stood
A single-storey market & food centre used to stand at the area between blocks 32, 34 and 35. It was opened in 1977 as Dover Road Hawker and Market Centre. By 2011, all the residents in the estate have moved out, and the market was demolished.
Designed by Khor Ean Ghee
Constructed: 1980s
Status: Lost
Demolished: 2012
Dover Vista Park
The Dover Vista Park, or Pelican Playground, was built in 1974. It was tucked at the deepest end of the estate, next to Blk 39.
More commonly known as the “Pelican Playground”
Other than the pelican, it also housed a concrete hare and a concrete tortoise, clearly derived from the tale of the Tortoise and the Hare. There was also a swing over a sand pit, but the swing has been removed by the time I visited.
The tortoise and the hare
The swing was removed, probably for safety reasons
Circles and semicircles were a common feature in the playground. Openings were present at various parts of the animals to allow children to climb into them.
The swing
Mr Khor was an interior designer in HDB, who was tasked to design numerous playgrounds. However, by 1993, HDB stopped designing its own playgrounds, as importing overseas design proved to be easier to meet international safety standards.
The pelican
The playground was demolished in mid 2012.
The other newer playground
There was also another playground next to Blk 36. It seemed slightly newer but still featured the sand pit from that era.
File Last Updated: October 16, 2015
lostnfiledsg 
Hi there, I am working on a school project, and was wondering if you would allow me to borrow some of your excellent pictures for my report. Full acknowledgement will be given to you. Thank you, and looking forward to your reply!
Hi Justin. Sure! Feel free to do so
Thank you! And keep up the great work, I’ve learnt a lot from your blog 🙂
Thanks! Just sharing some of the photos and things I know. Glad you like it!
Preparation works have started for demolition of the dover road flats. Hoardings are coming up around perimeter of the site, but one can still ‘sneak’ in via the metal fence near to the overhead bridge leading up to point block Blk 39…but this route is expected to be sealed off pretty soon. =(
what’s gonna happen to this place?
Thank you dearly for this post. I grew up here in my grandparents home and made many first memories here. Those pictures brought comfort.
Yep, the flats at Dover estate are being demolished now. About 10 years ago, I often took bus 166 or 14 back home from work, would pass by Fairfield Methodist School, those flats and Anglo-Chinese School. Recently I took bus 166, and the entire place is now barricaded.
Side note: Blk 436 to 438 Clementi Ave 3 (now demolished), not far from where I live, shared a very similar design to those Dover flats. That distinctive ‘protruding box’ corridors for certain floors which could directly access the lift. Back then lifts didn’t stop on every single floor.
Extra note: Normanton Park, another vintage dwelling place, has also been barricaded and in the process of being demolished. Another victim of en bloc. Though I never lived there, at least I had played tennis with my former co-workers there.
blk 29 was a 2 room rental blk i think