District 7 · Core Central Region
Bugis · Beach Road · Kampong Glam
Heritage, faith and reinvention... the Malay-Arab quarter and Beach Road corridor where old Singapore meets a new mixed-use city.
Image: Sultan Mosque · Marcin Konsek · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
The History
The Sultan's quarter, by the old shoreline.
Kampong Glam takes its name from the gelam tree and the coastal Malay community that settled here, and under the 1822 town plan it became the quarter set aside for the Sultan and the Malay-Arab community. Around the golden-domed Sultan Mosque grew a dense weave of shophouses, textile traders and craftsmen along Arab Street, Haji Lane and Bussorah Street; the area was gazetted for conservation in 1989.
Beach Road, just south, once ran along the shoreline before reclamation pushed the sea away, while Bugis recalls the Bugis seafarers from Sulawesi who traded here. The most striking modern landmark is the Golden Mile Complex: opened in 1972 as a pioneering "vertical city" of brutalist design, it became, in 2021, the first large-scale modern strata building gazetted for conservation in Singapore.
What's Changing
Mixed-use anchors rising beside the heritage.
District 7 is being reshaped by a wave of mixed-use development along Beach Road. GuocoLand's Guoco Midtown, completed in the early 2020s, knitted offices, homes, retail and public spaces into the corridor between the CBD and the historic quarter, setting a template for how the area's identity could evolve.
The landmark Golden Mile Complex, sold en bloc in 2022 after its conservation gazetting, is being restored and reborn as "The Golden Mile" — its terraced brutalist profile preserved while the interior is remade for offices, medical suites and retail. Around them, the conserved streets of Kampong Glam continue to thrive as one of Singapore's most characterful districts for food, independent retail and nightlife. Heritage carefully kept, new anchors rising alongside — this central, well-connected district stays in constant, considered renewal.
Why Live Here
Four reasons District 7 has real character.
Heritage with atmosphere
Kampong Glam, Haji Lane and the Sultan Mosque give the district a colour and history unlike anywhere else in the city.
Central and connected
Bugis interchange and multiple MRT lines link the district to the whole island in minutes.
New mixed-use anchors
Guoco Midtown and the reborn Golden Mile bring fresh homes, offices and amenities to the Beach Road corridor.
Food and culture on tap
Some of Singapore's best-known dining, cafes and independent shops sit within walking distance.