Located at Tai Gin Road in the Balestier district, the Sun Yat Sen Villa was initially a two-storey property built by businessman Boey Chuan Poh in 1900 to serve as his private residence. The villa was renamed Wan Qing Yuan (meaning ‘a haven of peace in one’s latter years’) after it was acquired by rubber tycoon Teo Eng Hock for his mother. Teo subsequently offered the property to Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat Sen to use as a base when the latter visited Singapore in February 1906 to establish a branch of his Tongmeng Hui society. Following several changes in ownership, the villa was eventually placed under the trust of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1951. The property became known as the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Villa in 1965 following renovation works and a museum was opened within the premises a year later to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Sun’s birth. Gazetted as a national monument in 1994, the villa underwent further renovation works before it was reopened as the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in 2001. The Hall went through another revamp in 2010 and was reopened in October 2011 in an official ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean, the great-grandnephew of the elder Teo.
