In 1881, a flood swept through the town following a fire which engulfed it earlier. These successive problems destroyed the town's structures made of wood and "atap" (thatching). As a response, Frank Swettenham, the British Resident of Selangor, required that buildings be constructed of brick and tile. Hence, Kapitan Yap Ah Loy bought a sprawling piece of real estate for the setting up of a brick industry which would spur the rebuilding of Kuala Lumpur. This place is the eponymous Brickfields. Destroyed "atap" buildings were replaced with brick and tiled ones. Yap also restructured the building layout of the town. Many of the new brick buildings mirrored those of shop houses in southern China, characterized by "five foot ways," as well as skilled Chinese carpentry work. This resulted in a distinct eclectic shop house architecture typical of this region. In this developing town, Yap owned a third of all the buildings in Kuala Lumpur, and two thirds of the urban land east of the Klang River, in addition to his control of the tin mines. Yap Ah Loy also spent a sum of $20,000 to expand road access in the city significantly, linking up tin mines with the city, these roads include the main arterial roads of Ampang Road, Pudu Road and Petaling Street.