Tyersall Park
Tyersall Park
Tyersall Park is a historic estate in Tanglin, Singapore, near the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It sits between Holland Road and Tyersall Avenue and covers part of what is now the Botanic Gardens’ grounds.
Origins and early owners
- In the mid-1800s, two English-founded homes stood on the land: Woodneuk House (later called Istana Woodneuk) and Tyersall House.
- The estates were first owned as private residences by English traders Captain John Dill Ross and the Napier family.
- In the late 1850s, Abu Bakar, who would become the Sultan of Johor, bought the properties and moved his residence there. He named Woodneuk as his official residence, calling it Istana Tyersall.
key developments and events (late 1800s)
- Istana Tyersall was completed and opened in 1892; it became a social hub for receptions and parties.
- Tyersall was the site of early technology and sporting events, including the first telephone line between Tyersall and Woodneuk and the Tyersall Polo Ground.
- A major fire in 1905 damaged the palace, and the Istana Tyersall was later abandoned.
- The area hosted the Tyersall Drag Hunt Club and other gatherings, and the surrounding grounds were used for polo and gymkhana events.
Changes in the 1930s
- In 1932, a new palace, Istana Woodneuk, was built nearby and completed in 1935 as the residence for Sultan Ibrahim of Johor and his wife.
- Istana Tyersall fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1935.
World War II and its aftermath
- During World War II, Tyersall Park served as a military site. It hosted Indian Army hospitals and camp facilities and later served as a POW camp area.
- The Japanese Occupation (1942–1945) brought heavy damage; some facilities were destroyed by bombs, and troops were moved through the grounds.
- After the war, SACSEA (the Allied Southeast Asia command) used the estate, and in 1948 the palace was returned to the Sultan as his official residence in Singapore.
Postwar changes and government involvement
- In 1959 the Sultan’s officials approved funds to maintain Tyersall Park.
- In 1990, Singapore’s government acquired part of Tyersall Park from Johor as part of larger expansion plans for the city.
- A 2004 compensation dispute over the acquisition was settled in court, with funds eventually paid into court.
- In 2009, about 9.8 hectares of Tyersall Park were added to the Singapore Botanic Gardens as the Tyersall extension. This involved reworking Tyersall Avenue and creating a new Learning Forest, opened in 2017.
Current status and ownership
- As of 2019, the land around Tyersall Park is mostly designated as green space, with limited public access.
- The estate is now owned by the Johor royal family (Tunku Ismail Idris), but large parts are protected as part of the Botanic Gardens extension and green space.
- Experts say the land could be valuable if developed, and in 2025 there were talks of a land-swap arrangement between Singapore and Johor to reshuffle parts of the estate for development and preservation.
- In 2025, a swap moved the 13-hectare palace estate to Singapore (Plot C) in exchange for a smaller Plot A to Johor, near but not adjacent to the Botanic Gardens. The Crown Prince of Johor has discussed possible development plans, but no final decision had been made.
In culture
- Tyersall Park appears in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians novels, where it’s described as a large, wealthy estate.
- The 2018 Crazy Rich Asians film used another historic site in Kuala Lumpur to stand in for Tyersall Park’s interiors, with a lake added in post-production to suggested grounds.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:09 (CET).