It’s seen the birth of over 1.2 million babies – perhaps you might have been one of them. Just yesterday (October 1), on the 101st anniversary of its designation as Singapore’s first and only dedicated free maternity hospital, the former Kadang Kerbau Hospital (KKH) was declared the 76th national monument of our country.
But its past harks way back before the year 1924. First built in 1858, KKH was initially a general hospital before it started specialising in women and children. It also served as an emergency hospital during the wartime era.
With its name directly translating to “buffalo enclosure” from Malay, the site of the old KKH was once home to the pens of buffaloes used to pull carts as a mode of transportation in Singapore’s early days. The hospital relocated to its current site – a neighbouring plot of land at Bukit Timah – in 1997, becoming the KK Women's and Children's Hospital.
Today, the former KKH building, which sports a relatively modern architectural style, houses the corporate headquarters of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Besides earning bragging rights as a new national gem, the former hospital has also launched a special exhibition titled The Architecture of Care to celebrate its new status. Open on weekdays between 9.30am to 5pm, from now till December 31, 2025, the free-entry exhibition also has free guided tours on selected weekends. Sign up for the tours here.
Find out more about the former KKH and other national monuments of Singapore here.
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