The single-storey building housing the Handicaps Welfare Association formerly served as Rayman School from 1953 to 1984. It is the only surviving legacy of the former Rayman Estate, built in 1948 by the Singapore Improvement Trust to provide homes for former residents of urban slums.
The former Rayman Estate was named after Lazarus Rayman, a former Chairman of the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT). In the late 1940s, the SIT built an estimated 300 single-storey artisan quarters in Rayman Estate to house former residents of urban slums.
The Balestier area was also the location of three other SIT estates: Lorong Limau estate in 1932 (near Lorong Limau), Whampoe Estate between 1947-48 (near the banks of Sungei Whampoa) and St Michael's estate in 1959. These estates have since been replaced by HDB flats in the 1960s-70s.
