five- foot way Covered pedestrian arcade commonly, but not exclusively, found in front of shophouses. It was modern Singapore’s founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, who decreed that all buildings in Singapore should include a five- foot walkway in front of the shop, abutting the street. This meant that the second storey of each shophouse overhung its front entrance, shading it.

This ‘five- foot way’ (‘kaki lima’ in Malay) created a continuous covered walkway in front of the shophouse block, providing shelter against the elements. The floors of many five- foot ways featured aesthetic finishes including mosaic, terracotta and clay tiles. Tile patterns on the five- foot way would sometimes be repeated on the front wall of the shophouse.

By the 1870s, settlers began to ply simple businesses along the five- foot way, and it developed a lifestyle and social culture of its own.

Photo credit: Sin Kam Cheong