Government completes acquisition and takes possession of 38 Oxley Road site
The National Heritage Board will study how to turn it into a public space “in a manner that respects Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s wishes for privacy”.
The foyer of 38 Oxley Road, the estate of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, on Nov 3, 2025. (File photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
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SINGAPORE: The Government has completed the acquisition process and took possession of the site at 38 Oxley Road on Friday (Jul 31), “to preserve it in keeping with its historic significance and national importance”, said the authorities.
The property was the home of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
The acquisition follows from the site’s gazette as a national monument on Dec 12, 2025, and its subsequent gazette for acquisition on Jan 29, 2026.
The National Heritage Board (NHB) will undertake a detailed study of the site and the options for how it can be developed into a public space in a manner that respects Mr Lee’s wishes for privacy.
In the interim, necessary maintenance works will be carried out as required, and there will be no public access to the site, said the Singapore Land Authority and NHB in a joint statement.
The site at 38 Oxley Road is Singapore’s 77th national monument.
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The late Mr Lee had on several occasions publicly expressed his wish for the house to be demolished after his death.
The fate of the house would become the source of dispute among his children – Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang – following his death in 2015.
With matters spilling into the public sphere, then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a ministerial statement in parliament in 2017.
A ministerial committee released a report in April 2018 with three proposals – retaining the house in whole; retaining just the historic basement dining room; or allowing demolition. The report made no recommendations and noted “there (was) no need to make a decision on the property” at the time, as Dr Lee Wei Ling was still living there.
After Dr Lee’s passing in October 2024, the Urban Redevelopment Authority received an application from Mr Lee Hsien Yang to demolish the building at 38 Oxley Road.
In the same month, the NHB launched a formal assessment of the site to determine if it was worthy of preservation.
In its assessment, the Preservation of Sites and Monuments Advisory Board assessed the site as having “strong national significance worthy of preservation as a national monument”, describing it as a foundational part of Singapore’s independence that is “not represented by any other site or monument”.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang criticised the announcement. In a Facebook post on Nov 3, 2025, he wrote that the ruling government had “chosen to trample on Lee Kuan Yew’s unwavering wish to demolish his private house”.
NHB reviewed his objection letter and maintained its recommendation that the site was worthy of preservation as a national monument for its historic significance and national importance.
Then-Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo said on Nov 6, 2025, that the preservation of the site was not about memorialising any single leader, but safeguarding Singapore’s history for future generations.
Source: CNA/nh
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