Matilda House

The house was completed in 1902 and was built by Alexander Cashin for his wife. The house was named after Alexander's mother, Josephine Matilda Cashin, and hence the name, "Matilda House". It was a single-storey tropical-style bungalow with four bedrooms and servant-quarters attached. The house was set within a large garden with coconut and various kinds of fruit trees and also includes a horse-stable, tennis-courts and is nearby a small fishing village on the side close to the seafront. It mainly served as a weekend retreat for the Cashins.[3]

The ownership of the house was later passed on to Howard Cashin, where he resided in together with his wife and children after returning from England where he studied law in 1953. In the 1960s, the ownership was then further passed on to his brother, Joseph Cashin, where Joseph lived in along with his sister and their mother.

Matilda House in 2006, with Soo Teck LRT station in the background.

In 1985, the government acquired one million meters square of land in Punggol, including the Matilda Estate, which the house was a part of and the Cashins were asked to move out of the property.[4] Given conservation by Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority status on 21 February 2000 as a reminder of the past to the residents of Punggol, the land around the building was cleared, and the house was the only building standing. Due to disuse and lack of maintenance, the house fell into ruins and inspired rumours of it being haunted and that it cannot be demolished.[5] It was referred as "Ghost House" or Istana Menanti (The Waiting Palace).

In 2010, the site which the house sits on was put on for sale.[6] It was a frequent haunt for photographers, especially for those who want to take night shots of the place, until the site the house was sold in 2012 for redevelopment.