Chee Guan Chiang House
project
Chee Guan Chiang House (1938 ), 25 Grange
Road
I went in to the house for a photo shoot
Some info about the House:
Chee Guan Chiang House, built 1938 by architect Ho Kwong Yew, who
also designed the original Haw Par Villa.
"The design is distinctly Modern in its language, and is influenced
by the architecture of the Weissenhof Siedlung in Stuttgart in 1927
and by Erich Mendelsohn's design for the De La Warr Pavilion in
Bexhill (UK) in 1935. The house has a plan that employs a
semi-circular 'bow window' on an axis in a similar manner to the
Bexhill pavilion."
-Singapore Architecture
The estate is now owned by Lee Tat Developements and had been
abandoned for nearly 30 years now.
____________________________________________________________
Feb 25, 2005
'Shortcut' road: Firm loses 3-decade fight
Court of Appeal rules in favour of condo residents, ending row with
property firm
By Elena Chong
A LEGAL tussle dating back three decades between a property
development company and condominium residents - over who has the
right of way on a strip of land near Orchard Road - may have
finally reached its conclusion yesterday, when two out of three
Court of Appeal judges ruled in the residents' favour.
Lee Tat Development had been attempting since the 1970s to stop the
residents of the Grange Heights condominium from using a road
adjacent to the condo as a shortcut to Grange Road and nearby
Orchard Road shopping centres, bus stops and the MRT station.
Yesterday, in a majority decision, the Court of Appeal dismissed
Lee Tat's appeal. The decision brings to an end a sometimes
farcical territorial saga.
In 1989, the court granted the Grange Heights management
corporation a temporary injunction against Lee Tat after the
company had erected a fence outside the perimeter of the estate and
an iron gate across the Grange Road entrance to the land.
The judge ruled that the right of way, in place since 1911, was
still valid and residents could not be prevented from using the
road.
In 1990, the High Court rejected an appeal by Lee Tat to have the
injunction lifted.
Then in 1997, Lee Tat, having just bought the 883.4 sq m plot of
land on which the road stood for $3 million, decided to try
again.
The company erected two signboards and blocked the entrance to the
road with a chain and rocks. They also hired a security guard to
prevent 'trespassers'.
Once again, the Grange Heights management took the matter to court
and won. But Lee Tat refused to follow the order and, in 1999, it
landed up in court yet again, where it was fined $3,000 for
contempt, with $10,000 costs.
On June 4 last year, Grange Heights applied to the court to repair
and maintain the right of way at its own cost. Lee Tat was having
none of it and started another action in September challenging the
residents' right of way.
Justice Woo Bih Li threw out the application and Lee Tat took the
case to the Court of Appeal.
In court yesterday, Lee Tat's Senior Counsel Tan Cheng Han argued
that the company's ownership of the land had justified reopening
the right of way issue.
Grange Heights' lawyer, Mr Edwin Lee, submitted that Lee Tat bought
the land with full knowledge that his clients still had the right
of way. He said the issue had already been decided by the
courts.
Though Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin dissented, Chief Justice Yong
Pung How and Justice Belinda Ang ruled in favour of Grange
Heights.
__________________________________________________________
"But by 1970s they were abandoned. Lee Tat Development Pte Ltd is
the owner of dominant tenements Lots 111-32 and 111-33. Lot 111-31
is only the servient tenement granted to the respective owners of
Lots 111-32 and 111-33. "
___________________________________________________________
Overview of CGC House, India House and CK Tang residences:
My journal commences:
The old guardhouse and gateposts had been knocked over! 
Notice, heck care! There's a pth that leads to Grange Heights
condo. Just pretend you're a condo resident and walk up! 
This was taken on my way down, but I posted it here, to show 2
paths.
Left path leads to the houses, right path leads to Grange
Heights.
This is the left path. From here, you can see the garage of the 1st
house
View from the path. The roof of 7 Grange Road and Meritus Mandarin.
The sheer close distance between Orchard Road and these 2 houses is
just too surreal.
