The MacAlister Terrace, situated at MacAlister Road in the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), displays rich colonial flavour in its architectural design.
The pre-WWII terrace is uninhabited currently, whereas the nearby MacAlister Flats still function as a hostel. All three landmarks are named after George Hugh K. MacAlister, the principal of King Edward VII College of Medicine from 1918 to 1929.
Visible from the Central Expressway (CTE) after the Chin Swee Tunnel, the pale blue two-storey building with red roof seems to be a forgotten place in SGH, receiving little attention and maintenance as compared to SGH’s national monuments such as the Bowyer Block, the College of Medicine Building and the Tan Teck Guan Building (see last picture).
As Singapore’s first general hospital and the oldest medical institution, SGH was founded in 1821 but moved to its current site in Outram on 29 March 1926.
As the hospital expanded throughout the years, many buildings within the compound were torn down and replaced by modern ones. Only Bowyer Block of the original SGH (1926) remains today, after Stanley and Norris Blocks were demolished in the 1970s. The names of the three blocks were named after the doctors who lost their lives during the Japanese Occupation (1942 – 1945).
In 2010, a new multi-storey carpark was built near the MacAlister Terrace, and MacAlister Road was lengthened and linked to the main road of Jalan Bukit Merah.
As SGH continues to modernise, one can only wonder if the terrace will also suffer the fate of demolition in the future.
Published: 17 January 2011
Updated: 08 February 2011
Dear Author of SGH.MacAlister.Terrace – Remember Singapore,
I visited and read your blog today and felt such a loss if the terrace disappears altogether. I’m writing on the Early Malay Doctors. I would like to link to your blog. If you wish to write more about the Terrace, other old hospitals in Singapore, or KEVII, please write at my blog. TQ
Prof Faridah
thanks Professor Faridah, it’ll be indeed a great loss if the terrace is demolished..
the new multi-storey carpark built last year may be an indication that the ever-expanding SGH needs more and more space..
btw, what an intensive and detailed blog you have… great work
Thank you very much, Remember Singapore. Your blog is great with lovely photos.
17-2-2013 ..Dear Prof. Faridah, I was suddenly touched by your March 11, 2011 statement that you were writing about the Early Malay doctors. I just discovered this today. It brought back lots of memories of my Malay fellow students and Medical friends. I grew up in the kampongs of Malacca and belong to the Medical Class of 1950. How could I get a copy of your work on the “early Malay Doctors?” I will try to “Google”. A mental recollection: Surgeon Syed Alhady Syed Mahmood, Raja Ahmad Nordin,Abdul Kadir, Ariffin Marzuki,Mahathir Mohamed and Hasmah,Jaafar Abdullah, Ahmad Yasin,, Ungku Omar, Ismail Suleiman, Zakariah Salim,, Raja Abdullah Badiuzaman,
The three Merican brothers- Carleel, Ezanee and Mahmood, Rosman Kass, Abdul Talib, Hussein Ghani, Ismail Saad , Zubaidah, Tengku Zaila, Buharniddin Md. Saman. I was tutored by Dr Awang Hassan in Gynaecology at KKMH, Singapore.
Many of my great friends and “heroes” have passed on in many different circumstances and I do treasure their guidance and friendships. I hope to learn more from your research. Thanks ++
I used to live in 3M MacAlister Road – the flat on the highest floor! this was in the mid-60s, when there was an open field across from the flat, and a row of car garages at the bottom of the hill for residents. My father was a dental surgeon, working in the hospital, and we were living in these quarters. I have such fond memories of that place, and often wonder where all my neighbours went. I remember there was a big fire across from us, at the abandoned laborotries. Thank you very much for sharing these fotos.
Great photos. There used to be many barracks around Spore. I still remember those at Jln Teck Whye and at Bt Timah (in between Bt Timah Shopping Centre and Bt Timah Shopping Complex). There was a Hindu Temple somewhere.