Colonial bungalow at Mount Pleasant: Taylor Swift sparks nostalgic fervour with maternal family's expat life in vintage SingaporePHOTO: Julia Nickson, Art Apart FairSINGAPORE — She came, she thrilled thousands across six sold-out shows, and now, Taylor Swift has left Singapore — but leaves in her wake a lasting impact.
Her mother Andrea Swift, known lovingly as Mama Swift among legions of Swifties, grew up in tropical Singapore with her sister, after their father Robert Finlay relocated the family here for his engineering job. Ms Nickson was in the same class as the young Andrea Finlay — Mrs Andrea Swift's maiden name — in the Singapore American School in 1968 and 1969.
Ms Nickson told ST that the colonial bungalow is likely located near Mount Pleasant. Her other former SAS classmates concurred, saying the two-storey bungalow is up on a long slope on Mount Pleasant.Checks by ST found that the 370 sq m bungalow is still standing tall amid lush greenery in the quiet Mount Pleasant estate near Bukit Brown. It is currently tenanted out.
A black-and-white bungalow opposite the former Finlay home also has similar window type, design and height, as well as wide columns in the car porch. "The black-and-white houses featured ample land and nice gardens, which gave the European expats a sense of being out in the countryside.During the 1942 Japanese occupation of Singapore, one of the last battle lines was along Mount Pleasant, where Allied forces continued to fight till Feb 15, the day the British surrendered to the Japanese.In 1960, the Singapore government began letting out these houses to the public for residential use.