Alkaff Lake Gardens, 1920s

Opened in 1929, the Alkaff Lake Gardens was a Japanese-style garden developed by the Alkaffs, a wealthy Arab family. As the first Japanese garden in Singapore, the Alkaff Gardens became a place of attraction for both residents and tourists, with its beautiful setting of a lake for rowing boats, landscaped paths, rentable tea houses, and picnic tables under shady trees.