Located off Punggol Road, the house was originally built in 1902 for Mr Alexander Cashin, whose family history in Singapore can be traced back to the early 1840s. His father was Joseph William Cashin, a lawyer's clerk who made good and became the first Eurasian millionaire. He made his fortune on opium farms (legal in the 1880s) and subsequently real estate. The Cashin family owned a vast quantity of land and properties, including the conserved house at 23 Amber Road. Cashin Street, off North Bridge Road, was also named after them.
According to the late Mr Howard Cashin (1920-2009), the house was named Matilda, after his paternal grandmother and built by his father, Mr Alexander Cashin, as a present for his wife.
The building was a sprawling, single-storey, six-bedroomed bungalow that had attached servants quarters, stables and was set in orchards which had mangosteen, durian and rambutan trees. The tropical style of the building is accentuated through its architectural features such as open verandahs, raised floors and the use of timber-framed lattices and louvres to permit cross-ventilation. It has entrances on two sides of the main building, an open balcony at the front facade, and a long verandah for the enjoyment of the coastal breezes and extensive views.
There were manicured lawns, tropical blooms and clipped hedges that lay to the front and tennis courts on the side. A long staircase ran down the garden over several levels to the sandy beach, a mere 200m away. The Cashin family also owned about 350 hectares of land in the area on which there were rubber and coconut plantations.
The residence was used to film the BBC television serial “Tenko” in the 1980s, dramatising the experiences of European women interned by the Japanese militia following the invasion of Singapore in World War II.
As the only remaining historical bungalow in Punggol, Matilda House will serve as a significant landmark and marker of its past, and has the potential to be developed for community use for Punggol New Town.
Gazetted on 21 February 2000 for conservation