Maxwell Food Centre is a well-loved hawker centre in Singapore, known for its awesome food, like

Tian Tian chicken rice:

Fuzhou Oyster Cake:

Fish Head Bee Hoon:

And many others, which we won't tempt you with since it's almost time for dinner.

This is what it looks like in the present day, after its renovations between 2000 and 2001:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Source[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Source[/caption]

The endearing nature of the hawker centre and its popularity makes it difficult to imagine it any other way, but things were different in the past.

In the 1950s, a wet market began on the site. It became known as the Maxwell Road Market, or Maxwell Market for short.

The market was operational right till the 1980s. Here’s what it looked like in 1986:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS [/caption]

(Personally, we think we prefer it in its present-day form!)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

Some time in the 1980s, the site of the market was transformed into a temporary hawker centre to house the street hawkers from the China Square area.

But what was initially intended to be temporary arrangement ended up becoming permanent.

And for many years since the 1980s and before the renovations in 2000, this was what the Maxwell Food Centre looked like:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512"] A hawker in 1986. Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] The entrance to the hawker centre in 1992. Source: NAS[/caption]

Pretty familiar, hey?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] The hawker centre in 1992. Source: NAS[/caption]

The roof beams look pretty similar too, except they're in black and white.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Within the hawker centre in 1992. Source: NAS[/caption]

And this looks the same as it does today, too:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Side entrance to the hawker centre in 1992. Source: NAS[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

At the time, though, even though it wasn't actually that long ago, the conditions at Maxwell Food Centre were notoriously unhygienic, with washing areas situated right next to where people dined, as shown in the photo below.

This ultimately led to the need for the place to be renovated into its present state.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Source: NAS[/caption]

But hey, all the changes were for good — since we now have the awesome place that we enjoy today.

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Top image from Wikipedia and NAS.

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