MacDonald House Research

History of MacDonald House

On your walk along Orchard Road, you will be able to identify MacDonald House with its distinctive red bricks. It was the first large office building in the post-war era in 1949 . It was designed in Neo-Georgian style, and the red bricks were specially manufactured by Alexandra Brickworks to achieve the desired colour and texture. On 2 July 1949 the building was officially opened by its namesake, Malcolm MacDonald, the British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1955. He was a liberal, and did not hesitate to mingle with the non-whites and natives. He also did not mix much with the pompous culture of the European "snob clubs" of Malaya.

President Sukarno had vowed to crush Malaysia as a "neo-colonialist puppet state" after which, Indonesia's foreign minister, Dr Subandrio, on behalf of Sukarno, declared Confrontation with Malaysia on 20 January 1963, eight days after Singapore's incorporation into the new Federation of Malaysia. It was then that the bomb hit MacDonald House. Though this aggressive policy effectively ended in October1965, it was only formally abandoned in August 1966.

How the bomb explosion took place

The bomb was placed near the lift on the mezzanine floor of the building. The explosion caused a lift door to be ripped off and an inner wall on the same floor as the bomb was blown inwards. This caused the structure to collapse into the ground floor, which had a bank, in a mass of rubble. Windows within a hundred yards of the bomb explosion were shattered and cars parked in the bomb site or driving past the place were damaged. This killed 3 while injuring 33. An official government statement said that it was "a senseless act of terrorism...We strongly condemn and deplore this attempt by the enemies of Malaysia to cow us into submission...The people's answer to this cowardice should be resolution and vigilance".  

Arising from the bombing, two Indonesian marines were arrested and charged with murder. On 17 October 1968, they were hanged. In retaliation, 400 students from Jakarta, Indonesia ransacked the Singapore embassy in Indonesia and proceeded to attack the consul's residence and the homes of two other Singaporean diplomats. Also as a sign of defiance, they burnt the Singapore Flag. During the period of Confronatation, the worst single bomb explosion was the MacDonald House out of 37 that hit Singapore. The cause of the Confrontation was because Indonesia strongly objected to Singapore being part of the newly independent Malaysia.

Its transformation through Time and Space

After years of being vacant, the building was put up for sale again on 5 April 2002 with an area of 78600 square metres spread over 10 stories. The building was gazetted as a national monument on 10 February 2003, with the exterior façade coming under protection while the sale was going on. Tinifia Investment was the successful bidder who paid S$36 million for the freehold building in 2003, and closed the building for $12 million worth of extensive interior renovations. It included the upgrading of the ceilings, floors, lobby and lifts, and the introduction of carparking facilities with the addition of a mechanical parking system for 30 cars.

In April 2005, when the building re-opened, it was of full occupancy. The fifth to eighth floors are occupied by Mccann Worldgroup while Expressions International, a beauty/spa operator,  takes up the 9 and 10 floors. The flagship Orchard Road Branch of Citibank Singapore opened on 23 June 2005, occupying 37,000 square feet of space spread over the building's lower four floors which house the largest wealth management centre in Asia.



Why was MacDonald House at Orchard Road in the Museum Planning Area?
Orchard Road was being modernise after World War 2. Therefore, for retail purposes, for offices to be built for employment and for shops to have a place, MacDonald House was built. Its sole purpose was to house a bank that would definitely lead to modernization as banks not only help a country’s economy but also increases employment in the country.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDonald_House
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_62_2004-12-17.
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Pg 91 A Walking Tour Singapore by G. Byrne Bracken