House of Tan Teng Niah

In front of you is probably the most photographed house in Singapore. But behind its colours lies a story of sugar, rubber and buffalo.

1The sweet king

Tan Teng Niah was a Chinese businessman who owned several sweet factories along Serangoon Road. He made his sweets from sugar cane. Behind the house he also had a rubber smokehouse, whose furnace was fuelled with bagasse, the fibre left over once the cane had been crushed. Nothing went to waste.

The house was built in 1900 and is the last surviving Chinese villa in Little India. It has eight rooms and a covered walkway at the front. Tan is believed to have built it for his wife, and the gilded inscription above the door, "Siew Song", meaning "elegant pine", is thought to refer to her.

2Buffalo Road

Notice the name of the street: kerbau means "buffalo" in Malay. This whole area was called Kandang Kerbau, "buffalo pens", because there were stables and cattle slaughterhouses here until the 1920s. Factories, pens and kilns made Little India an industrial district, a long way from today's tourist image.

The colours aren't original: they date from the 1980s restoration, when the house was turned to commercial use.

3What to look for

• The shutters, each one a different colour.
• The gilded plaque with the inscription "Siew Song".
• The carved half-doors at the entrance, typical of houses of the period.

Tekka Centre, the neighbourhood market, is a few steps away: a great place to end the walk with a meal.