The big swamp that became HDB’s first new town
The name most likely means “big swamp” — Hokkien toa, big, with Malay paya — and appears as “Toah Pyoh” on maps of the 1840s. Gambier and pepper planters cleared the land in the 1800s; before the new town some 3,000 squatter families lived here. Toa Payoh was the second satellite town after Queenstown but the first conceived and built solely by HDB: construction began in December 1964, and the first tenants moved in on 20 June 1966. It housed the athletes of the 1973 SEAP Games.
Landmarks include the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery (a National Monument since 1980) and Toa Payoh Town Park, whose lookout tower was conserved in 2009.
What the planning area covers
Its subzones run from Toa Payoh Central and Kim Keat to Braddell, Boon Teck, Pei Chun, Joo Seng, Sennett, Potong Pasir, Woodleigh and Bidadari — much of it HDB, with private housing towards its edges and a light-industrial belt at Kolam Ayer.
New launches
- The Orie — CDL, Frasers Property and Sekisui House, 777 units on Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, on a site URA awarded in November 2023, launched in January 2025.
Getting around
Six stations sit inside the boundary: Toa Payoh and Braddell on the North–South Line; Potong Pasir and Woodleigh on the North East Line; Bartley on the Circle Line; and Caldecott, the Circle and Thomson–East Coast interchange.
Schools with pages here include CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh), Kheng Cheng School, Pei Chun Public School and St. Andrew’s School (Junior).
Who manages the buildings here
Chambers Property Management Services (6), Rhodo Strata Management (4) manage the most developments inside the boundary. More than a quarter of the developments here have no managing agent on record — many are small blocks run by their own council. Each building page lists its own office contact.
What to have ready
The management office will ask for the MCST number and your unit. Public carparks with live lot counts are on the carparks page; see also the District 13 page.
Sources: URA Master Plan 2019 planning area and subzone boundaries (data.gov.sg); NHB Toa Payoh Heritage Trail; NLB Infopedia (Toa Payoh New Town); NLB Infopedia (Toa Payoh); CDL (The Orie); URA (Lorong 1 Toa Payoh award). Buildings are listed when their coordinate falls inside URA’s boundary for the planning area; prices are left out because they change.
