My mum thinks I'm crazy because I'm collecting bricks.. But the bricks I'm collecting are special because they bear the names of the local brickworks that made them.. Although having played a very important role in Singapore's nation-building efforts both in a literal and metaphorical sense, many have since closed and therefore deserve some remembering in this post..

This painting by Ng Eng Teng shows how the famous Alexandra Brickworks must have looked like in the late 1950s.. It was located at the corner of Pasir Panjang Road and Alexandra Road, approximately where the PSA Building currently stands.. Bricks from Alexandra Brickworks were used to build the Old National Library Building, Alexandra Hospital and the SIT flats at Tiong Bahru.. You might be wondering how Brickworks Estate got its name.. Well it got its name from the many brickworks like Alexandra Brickworks and Hock San Brickworks which used to exist in the area.. These were some of the earliest brickworks to be established in Singapore..

Another notable brickworks is the Old Jurong Brickworks at Jurong Road - Track 22, which have since been bulldozed in 2005.. Besides the Alexandra Brickworks, this was the other place where Ng Eng Teng came to fire his sculptures in the late 1950s.. I thought the authorities could have done better by keeping one or two chimneys at least as they do not occupy much space anyway.. In 2007, a new road nearby was opened and was named Brickland Road, probably to commemorate the many brickworks that used to exist in the area.. However, I believe the chimneys would have been a more tangible reminder of the area's past and as a landmark, maintain the area's distinctive identity..