MacDonald House

Coordinates: 1°17′57″N 103°50′46″E / 1.2992°N 103.8461°E / 1.2992; 103.8461
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with
Ronald McDonald House
.
For the Canadian High Commission building in London, see Macdonald House, London. For other uses, see McDonald House (disambiguation).

MacDonald House
Palmer and Turner
Other information
ParkingYes
Designated10 February 2003; 21 years ago (2003-02-10)
Reference no.50

The MacDonald House is a prominent building and monument in

Istana
, it was the last remaining office building in facing brick in the central area.

Initially built mostly as a bank, it continues to function as a banking hall (albeit for a different bank) today with various other companies, although it is better known as the historic site of a bombing attack in 1965 at the height of Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (Konfrontasi). It was designated as a national monument of Singapore in 2003.

History

The building was built in 1949, and designed by Reginal Eyre of the

high-rise buildings in Orchard Road, the MacDonald House housed mainly British, American and Australian companies. It also house EMI's recording studios, used by local bands during the 'pop yeh-yeh' period. Before the building was vacated in the early 2000s, the building housed HSBC
on the first few floors of the building.

In an incident known as the

Indonesian Confrontation in support of President Sukarno's opposition to the merger of Singapore, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia
. At the time of the bombing, the building also housed the Australian High Commission and the Japanese Consulate.

After years of remaining vacant, the building was put up for sale by

car parking facilities with the addition of a mechanical parking system for 30 cars
.

The building re-opened in April 2005 with full occupancy.

McCann Worldgroup occupies the fifth to eighth floors while a beauty/spa operator, Expressions International, takes up the top two floors. The flagship Orchard Road Branch of Citibank Singapore opened on 23 June 2005, occupying 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2) of space spread over the building's lower four floors which house the largest wealth management centre in Asia.[4]

Architecture

Palmer and Turner arrived in Singapore in 1940 from Shanghai via Hong Kong. The firm was established by Colonel P.O.G. Wakeham in Singapore shortly after World War II. It was probably the longest established and one of the best known architectural firms in Southeast Asia, having been formed in Shanghai circa 1882.

The MacDonald House is one of Palmer and Turner's first buildings in Singapore, and was built for

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
. It was the first large office building of the post-war period.

The building was built in a

skylights
in the ceiling of the banking hall which thus needs no artificial lighting during the day.

Bibliography

  • National Heritage Board (2002), Singapore's 100 Historic Places, Archipelago Press,
    ISBN 981-4068-23-3
  • Norman Edwards and Peter Keys (1996), Singapore – A Guide to Buildings, Streets and Places, Times Books International,
    ISBN 981-204-781-6
  • Rashiwala, Kalpana Khattar Wong to move into MacDonald House: sources
    The Business Times
    24 February 2005

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to MacDonald House.
  1. ^ Jackie Sam; Philip Khoo; Cheong Yip Seng; Abul Fazil; Roderick Pestana; Gabriel Lee (11 March 1965). "Terror Bomb kills 2 Girls at Bank". The Straits Times. Archived from the original (reprint) on 1 February 2014.
  2. Business Times
    . 4 April 2002. p. 7.
  3. Business Times
    . 11 February 2003. p. 9.
  4. ^ "Citibank opens its largest wealth management centre in Asia" (PDF).
  5. ^ Singapore, National Library Board. "Malaya's first completely air-conditioned building".

External links

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