Tan Kah Kee MRT station

Exit A of this station, which is directly outside Hwa Chong Institution.

Concourse level of the station.

The station's working name was "Duchess". The contract 918 for the design and construction of the station and the adjacent tunnels was awarded to Alpine Bau GmbH (Singapore Branch) at a sum of S$350.04 million in September 2009. The contractor was also awarded contract 917 for the construction of Sixth Avenue and King Albert Park stations and tunnels.[6]

As part of the survey headed by the Land Transport Authority in 2008 for the second stage of the Downtown Line, some Singaporeans (71%) including those from Hwa Chong Institution, the former Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, as well as Nanyang Girls' High School, opted in for the station to be renamed from "Duchess" to "Hwa Chong".[7] Other names considered include "Hillcrest", "Kah Kee" and "Watten", whereas other students of the school suggested "Kah Kee" as a station name.[5] On 17 June 2009, the station was formally renamed to "Tan Kah Kee" by the Ministry of Transport decision, in honour of the businessman and community leader Tan Kah Kee, who was the founder of The Chinese High School (present Hwa Chong Institution) of which a large proportion of the station was built under. This was also in recognition of Tan's selfless contribution to the local education and the Chinese community.[5]

Between July and August 2012, concerns were raised on the structural integrity of terraced and semi-detached residences surrounding the station, believed to be linked to the construction of the Downtown Line. This came after complaints about hairline cracks appearing on walls inside and outside the affected properties. It was understood that cracks began widening in the period of investigation. Apart from the cracks, some car porch roofs and walls had shifted, and some gates could no longer be opened. Checks were made by the Authority and the houses were found to be structurally safe. Additional steps were taken to repair damages to at least 40 Watten Estate properties.[8]

The main contractor for the station Alpine Bau went bankrupt in mid-2013.[9] On 28 June 2015, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced that the delay was "completely resolved" by the authorities and Stage 2's opening date was reverted to 27 December 2015.[10] At the Downtown MRT Line Stage 2 open house on 5 December 2015, LTA was informed by netizens that the Tamil translation of the station was incorrect. An apology was issued in the evening for the error and the error was rectified.[11]

The Tan Kah Kee MRT station features two murals created by students of the Hwa Chong Institution, titled Gratitude (or 饮水思源 in Mandarin Chinese) and Resilience (or 自强不息 in Mandarin Chinese).[12] Gratitude was designed to reflect the principle of giving back to society.[13] Resilience was characterised by its motifs of the rising sun, while Gratitude was characterised by its motifs of stormy waves.[12][14]