SINGAPORE / SHOPPING CULTURE / PEACE CENTRE HISTORY
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By The Memory desk · Historical reference · Sources checked 7 October 2026
Peace Centre, at the corner of Selegie Road and Sophia Road, was for half a century where central Singapore went to have things printed, photocopied and bound, and where a good many students went for classes. Its shopping and office podium was completed in 1973, and the residential tower behind it, Peace Mansion, followed in 1977. In 2021 the owners sold the complex collectively for S$650 million, and it closed for good on 28 January 2024.
The Peace Centre history is less about one famous shop than about a building that kept changing what it was for. It opened with a bowling alley and a supermarket, became a base for private and computer schools in the 1980s, filled with karaoke lounges from the mid-2000s, and spent its final months as a playground for artists and thrift sellers. Through most of that, the print and copy shops stayed. This guide sets out the dated record and notes where the accounts disagree.
Peace Centre at a glance
| Location | Junction of Selegie Road and Sophia Road, a short walk from Dhoby Ghaut |
| Built | Site acquired in 1970 on a 99-year lease; podium completed in 1973 and Peace Mansion in 1977, according to Remember Singapore |
| Developer | Kian An Realty, backed by Singapore and Hong Kong businessmen; built by Low Keng Huat Construction |
| Size | About 232 commercial units in a ten-storey podium, plus 84 apartments and two penthouses in Peace Mansion |
| Known for | Printing and photocopying, private and computer schools, tuition centres, small bookshops and, later, KTV lounges |
| Collective sale | 2021, for S$650 million, to a consortium including Chip Eng Seng and SingHaiyi |
| Today | Closed since 28 January 2024 and awaiting redevelopment (as of October 2026) |
1970 to 1977: Kian An Realty builds Peace Centre and Peace Mansion
The site was acquired in 1970 on a 99-year lease, according to the heritage site Remember Singapore, which has reconstructed the building’s history from newspaper archives. The developer was Kian An Realty, jointly financed by businessmen from Singapore and Hong Kong, and the project was budgeted at about S$30 million, with Low Keng Huat Construction as builder. The design followed the mixed-use formula of the time: a podium of shops and offices on the road, with a residential tower set behind it.
The dates vary a little depending on which part of the complex a source means. Remember Singapore puts the completion of the Peace Centre podium in 1973 and of Peace Mansion in 1977, which is probably why some guides give 1977 as the building’s opening year. The writer Eisen, working from old street directories, dates construction to between 1972 and 1975 and notes that the complex first appears in the 1975 directory. The finished podium held about 232 commercial units over ten storeys, and its roof carried tennis courts and a playground for the residents of the tower.
1973 to 1981: a bowling alley, a supermarket and a cancer clinic
Peace Centre’s first anchors were not print shops. In September 1973 the Star Bowl, a 36-lane bowling centre costing about S$5 million, opened in the building and was described at the time as the largest in Singapore; it closed in February 1981. In 1974 the Singapore Cancer Society set up clinics and a Cancer Information Centre there, and an NTUC Welcome supermarket opened on the lower floors; Cold Storage later ran the supermarket there.
Those tenants suggest a developer aiming at a general-purpose centre on the edge of the city rather than a specialist market. As at many of Singapore’s older strata complexes, the identity people now remember came later, from the tenants rather than the plan. For how that model of shops below, offices or flats above, spread across the city, see our history of Singapore’s shopping centres, atriums and escalators.
Why was Peace Centre known for printing?
TheSmartLocal’s 2024 retrospective remembers Peace Centre as the standard place to have textbooks and course materials printed, and to attend private schools that rented space in the same building. A 2023 feature in Malaysia’s New Straits Times also lists private schools and printing shops among its early tenants. When Eisen walked through in late 2021, just after the collective sale, the ground floor was still lined with photocopying and print shops.
Books and lessons sat alongside the printers. Remember Singapore lists the Prince Book Centre, a second-hand bookshop, and the Christian Book Centre among the building’s tenants over the years, together with tuition centres such as Intellect Education Centre and Waterford School, and the music retailer City Music Company. The sources do not date each of these, so the list is best read as a portrait of the building across its decades rather than a snapshot of any one year.
Why did the trade settle here? This is our reading rather than a documented fact. Printing and photocopying are services people need quickly and close to where they study, and Peace Centre had classrooms under its own roof as well as the old book district around Bras Basah a short walk away. Small strata units, modestly priced by city-centre standards, suited a business that needed little more than a counter, a few machines and steady passing trade. The same pairing of books, printers and students shaped Bras Basah Complex, the City of Books, which opened in 1980.
From computer schools to KTV lounges
The building’s next identity arrived with the personal computer. From the mid-1980s, private computer schools including Informatics and BMC opened branches at Peace Centre, according to both TheSmartLocal and the New Straits Times, and TheSmartLocal adds that several computer schools opened their very first branches there. It was the same boom that filled the IT malls covered in our history of Sim Lim Square and Funan. The New Straits Times also mentions dance studios among the tenants of this period.
As newer malls opened nearby, Peace Centre lost its pull for ordinary shoppers. From the mid-2000s KTV lounges took over many of its units, and the building acquired a nightlife reputation that shaped how many Singaporeans saw it in its last two decades. Eisen noted in 2021 that the pandemic had badly damaged that trade. The older tenants carried on around it, among them Amirthaalangaram Moorthy, whom Eisen described as Singapore’s last kacang puteh seller.
2007 to 2024: the en bloc attempts and a long goodbye
The owners of Peace Centre and Peace Mansion tried several times to sell the complex collectively. Remember Singapore records attempts in 2007, 2011 and 2014, at price tags of about S$470 million, S$700 million and S$680 million, none of which went through. In 2021 they finally sold for S$650 million to a consortium that included Chip Eng Seng and SingHaiyi; Eisen also names Ultra Infinity among the buyers. Remember Singapore counts this as the fifth attempt and Eisen as the sixth, and we have not been able to settle the difference.
The sale gave the building an unusually long farewell. In January 2023, seven artists, among them Song-ming Ang, staged an exhibition across shop units in the mall, which ArtReview Asia read as a tribute to an untidy pocket of a tightly planned city. Demolition had been expected in October 2023, but from August 2023 the social movement PlayPan used the empty mall for community, art and small-business projects, including thrift sellers such as Thryft and Resurrack, and demolition was put off. Peace Centre shut for the last time on 28 January 2024, after a farewell party, PeaceOut, that Remember Singapore says drew more than 1,500 people.
What remains on Selegie Road today
As of October 2026 the complex is closed and its redevelopment rests with the new owners. We have not found a published plan for the site that we could verify, so we do not describe one here. Further along Selegie Road stands Parklane Shopping Mall, another 1970s strata complex, and Bras Basah Complex, a short walk south, still houses printers and art-supply shops.
For readers looking for the kind of second-hand and specialist bookshops Peace Centre once held, our guide to Singapore’s bookshops, from chains to independents and second-hand dealers is a better starting point than any single mall.
A Peace Centre timeline
- 1970: The site is acquired on a 99-year lease.
- 1973: The Peace Centre podium is completed; the 36-lane Star Bowl opens in September.
- 1974: Singapore Cancer Society clinics and an NTUC Welcome supermarket open.
- 1977: Peace Mansion, the residential tower, is completed.
- February 1981: Star Bowl closes.
- Mid-1980s: Computer schools such as Informatics and BMC open branches.
- Mid-2000s: KTV lounges spread through the building.
- 2007, 2011 and 2014: Collective-sale attempts fail.
- 2021: The complex is sold collectively for S$650 million.
- January 2023: Seven artists exhibit in vacant units.
- August 2023: PlayPan begins its temporary programme.
- 28 January 2024: Peace Centre closes after the PeaceOut party.
Questions people ask
When was Peace Centre built?
Remember Singapore dates the shopping podium to 1973 and the Peace Mansion tower to 1977. Other accounts place construction between 1972 and 1975.
Why was Peace Centre known for printing?
It housed photocopy and print shops from its early years, alongside private schools and tuition centres, and became a standard stop for printing textbooks and course materials.
Who bought Peace Centre?
A consortium including Chip Eng Seng and SingHaiyi bought Peace Centre and Peace Mansion for S$650 million in 2021. One account also names Ultra Infinity among the buyers.
When did Peace Centre close?
It closed on 28 January 2024, after a temporary community and arts programme run by PlayPan from August 2023 and a farewell party called PeaceOut.
Is Peace Centre the same as Peace Mansion?
They were two parts of one complex. Peace Centre was the commercial podium facing the road; Peace Mansion was the residential tower behind it. They were sold together.
Sources and further reading
- Remember Singapore: Doors shuttered for good for Peace Centre (2024)
- History by Eisen: Curtains on Peace Centre (2021)
- TheSmartLocal: Peace Centre’s history and final months (2024)
- New Straits Times: Peace Centre Singapore, its colourful past (2023)
- ArtReview Asia: Peace Centre, Singapore, 4 to 20 January (2023)
This is a historical reference: Peace Centre has closed, and its former tenants have moved or ceased trading. Read next: Parklane Shopping Mall on Selegie Road · Bras Basah Complex and the City of Books · Back to The Memory
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