- Multi-functional: as its name suggests, a shophouse often contains a shop on the Ground Floor with Residential spaces on the upper floor(s). More generally, the ground floor contains a semi-public function. While this usually is, and historically usually was, a shop, it could just as easily be a Food And Beverage outlet (e.g. coffeeshop or bar), a service provider (e.g. clinic or barber), an industrial activity (e.g. cottage industry or auto workshop) or a community space (e.g. a school or clan association). Upper floor(s) are meant to accommodate one or more families, or serve as a Dormitory for single workers. Popular belief holds that shophouses were initally occupied by single families, with their private living areas above and the more public family business conducted below. However, it is possible that the two spaces were always usually used by Unrelated persons or groups, who may be tenants or resident owners.
- Low rise: shophouses are genrally Low-rise buildings. They have a minimum of two floors, but most shophouses are only two storeys high, the most common variation is the three storey shophouse (usually in more prosperous and densely built up central areas). However, shophouses going up to five or more storeys are not unknown. Heights were constrained by building technology and levels of prosperity.
- Narrow fronts, deep rears: shophouses have narrow street frontages, but may extend backwards to great depths, in some cases extending all the way to the rear street. A number of reasons have been given for the narrow widths of these buildings. One reason relates to taxes, i.e. the idea that buildings were historically taxed according to street frontage rather than total area, thereby creating an economic motivation to build narrow and deeply. Another reason is building technology: the timber beams that carried the roof and floor loads of these structures were supported by masonry paty walls. The extent of frontage was therefore affected by the structural span of the timber used. While all shophouses appear, visually, to have similarly narrow widths, these are not uniform and minor variations are the rule, especially when comparing buildings built at different times, by different owners and with different materials or technologies.
- Terrace d building: Shophouses are urban terrace buildings, i.e. they stand right next to each other along a street, with no gap or space in between buildings. Frequently, a single wall separates the shophouses on either side of it.
- and, most commonly, internal Courtyards . Depending on their size, the functions of the shophouse and the wealth of its residents, these couryards may be landscaped spaces for quiet reflection, places to dry laundry, vents for cooking fumes or toilet odours or spaces for any number of household activities (cooking, playing, reading, etc.)
- Party Walls : the party walls that separate most shophouses from their neighbours are generally constructed out of masonry (usually locally manufactured baked clay bricks) and they are structural, load-bearing walls, ie. they transfer the weight of the roof and upper floors down to the ground. Party walls marked a major shift from traditional timber post-and-beam frame construction of pre-colonial Southeast Asia. Masonry was used to bear the heavy loads, to provide privacy and security and, importantly, to serve as a barrier to the spread of fire in a crowded urban settlement. Modern shophouses use reinforced concrete party walls.
- Roofs : shophouses are roofed using orange clay roof tiles. Again, this marks an important shift away from the use of more organic coconut frond thatch (called 'attap') in traditional architecture. The added cost of clay tiles was borne due to thei greater durability and especially their resistance to fire.
- Floors and beams: traditionally shophouses were built with structural (i.e. load bearing) timber beams which carried the weight of the roof and floors. Floor were similarly made of timber planks, often with narrow gaps in between them to allow air to filter through and to help the building (and its inhabitants) to 'breathe' better. The use of timber beams and floor boards was very much in line with local building traditions. Modern shophouses use reinforced conceret beams and even floor slabs.
- Facade Colours : tourists often enjoy visiting and walking around shophouse districts because of the variety of colours used in their facade decoration. Traditionally, many shophouses would have been plastered an off-white colour. Other popular early colours were indigo and ochre, given the range of available pigments. By the mid-20th century, pastel colours (rose pink, baby blue, light yellow, etc) became popular, and they remain the colours that most people most strongly associate with these buildings. However, many contemporary or restored shophouses have now taken to using very bold colours, including deep reds, black, silver, gold, purple, etc.
- pastel coloured glazed tiles, often with floral or geometric motifs.
This building type evolved from the late 18th century during the colonial era, they are mostly 2 to 3 storeys high. In the colonial era, the shophouses became old and dilapidated, but now are undergoing a revival of sorts. Some have been restored and renovated to house theatres, budget hotels and tea houses.
- Lee Ho Yin, "The Singapore Shophouse: An Anglo-Chinese Urban Vernacular," in ''Asia's Old Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience, and Change,'' ed. Ronald G. Knapp (New York: Oxford University Press), 2003, 115-134.
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