Walking in from the main road along Tanglin Halt Road, you will come across one of the earliest neighbourhoods built by the HDB. The similar looking blocks, spaced closely, reflect an earlier period in our history when there was a pressing need to solve the endemic housing shortage in as short a time as possible.
This area, bordered by Stirling Road, Queensway and the Malayan Railway, derived its name from Tanglin Road and the Malayan Railway, which used to have a stop (thus the word "halt") near the junction of Tanglin Halt Road and Tanglin Halt Close. "Tanglin" came from "Tua Tang Leng" (Hokkien: Great Eastern Hills), a name given by the Chinese to the hilly area around Tanglin Road.
Tanglin Halt was also known as "Tanglin Halt Chap Lau" (Hokkien: Ten Storeys), after the ten-storey blocks which make up the estate. Today it is called Tanglin Halt Green with three new 40-storey blocks towering over the original Chap Lau which are still standing.