Punggol's new landmark
In the early 1970s, the Government under the Land Acquisition Act
as acquired the Maltida House aka Punggol Kampong House from Mr
Cashin. Mr Howard Cashin, 82, eminent lawyer and a epitome on the
Singapore rugby scene for decades, spent many happy holidays in and
around it. It is called Matilda House, named for his paternal
grandmother and built by his father, Mr Alexander Cashin, as a
present for his wife.
The Punggol seaside bungalow, built in 1921/22 as a weekend retreat
for the Cashin family, will be restored and conserved as a landmark
and put to community use in Punggol New Town. The house is within a
short walking distance from Punggol 21 and, for those old enough to
remember, off that narrow winding road that led to those great
Punggol Point seafood eateries.
It was in October 2002, Mr Cashin and The New Paper team visited
the Matilda house again. Mr Cashin was quite shocked by seeing its
present state, and he confessed to being 'a little shaken' at
seeing it in its present state.
The glorious past
The dilapidated framework and red corrugated roof don't do any
justice to its glorious past. It had a red-tiled roof and pristine
white-washed walls then. It was a sprawling, single-storey,
six-bedroomed bungalow with servants quarters attached, stables on
the side and set in orchards which had mangosteen, durian and
rambutan trees.
Manicured lawns, tropical blooms, clipped hedges lay to the front
with neat tennis courts to the sides. And a long staircase ran down
the garden - which was on several levels - to the sandy beach,
which was a mere 200m away. Even this was not all of it. The Cashin
family owned about 350 hectares of land in the area on which there
were also rubber and coconut plantations.