S'porean photographer stumbles upon estate in Johor that looks exactly like Dakota Crescent

Fascinating stuff.

Jeanette Tan | November 21, 2017, 06:45 PM

As most of you might know by now, Dakota Crescent is an old — now iconic — residential area in Singapore that's slated for demolition.

It's known in particular for its old-school HDB apartment block designs and motifs, as well as this playground:

Photo via Save Dakota Crescent Facebook page

Still with us? Great. So Singaporean photographer Weixiang Lim was in Johor Bahru on Monday on assignment to take photos of the Larkin Stadium, and stumbled upon a fascinating neighbourhood that was a mere 10-minute drive from there.

Screenshot from Google Maps

Here are the photographs he took from the estate, called Stulang Darat, which we're interspersing with photos of Dakota Crescent for comparison —

Stulang Darat:

Photo by and courtesy of Weixiang Lim / Zeitgeist Photos

Photo by and courtesy of Weixiang Lim / Zeitgeist Photos

Dakota Crescent:

Photo via Save Dakota Crescent Facebook page

Stulang Darat:

Photo by and courtesy of Weixiang Lim / Zeitgeist Photos

Dakota Crescent:

Photo by and courtesy of Weixiang Lim / Zeitgeist Photos

Some background on the playground

Now, the dove playground in Dakota Crescent was designed in 1979 by interior designer Khor Ean Ghee, who is now aged in his early 80s.

Two others like it were built in Bukit Batok and Clementi as well, according to the historical blog Remember Singapore:

Source: Remember Singapore

Source: Remember Singapore; photo by Foo Xin Yu

Khor was also responsible for quite a few others that have now become immortalised as Singaporean icons, like the dragon playground in Toa Payoh, as well as the bumboat in Pasir Ris and the rickshaw playground in Yishun.

All this said, though, the resemblance is uncanny — we've written to Khor to find out if he knows about this Dakota doppelgänger and will update this story when we find out.

Check out Lim's Facebook post here.

In case you'd like to read more about Dakota Crescent:

Top photo by and courtesy of Weixiang Lim / Zeitgeist Photos