The MacDonald House is a historic building and monument in Singapore, located at Orchard Road in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area. It was the first building to be fully air-conditioned in Southeast Asia. Located a short distance from the Istana, it was the last remaining office building in facing brick in the central area. Initially built for a bank, it continues to function as a banking hall (albeit for a different bank) today, although it is better known as the site of a bombing attack in 1965 at the height of Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. History The building was built in 1949, and designed by Reginal Eyre of the architectural firm Palmer and Turner. It was named after Malcolm MacDonald, the then Governor-General of Malaya. One of the first high-rise buildings in Orchard Road, the MacDonald House housed mainly British, American and Australian companies. It also house EMI's recording studios, used by local bands during the 'pop yeh-yeh' period. Before the building was vacated in the early 2000s, the building housed HSBC on the first few floors of the building. In an incident known as the MacDonald House bombing, three Indonesian saboteurs placed a bomb on the mezzanine floor on 10 March 1965, killing three and wounding 33. This was one of a number of terrorist attacks in Singapore during the Indonesian Confrontation in support of President Sukarno's opposition to the merger of Singapore, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia. At the time of the bombing, the building also housed the Australian High Commission and the Japanese Consulate. After years of remaining vacant, the building was put up for sale by tender on 5 April 2002, with a net lettable area of about over ten stories. While the sale was on-going, the building was gazetted as a national monument on 10 February 2003, with the exterior façade coming under protection. The successful bidder, Tinifia Investment, paid S$36 million for the freehold building in 2003, and closed the building for extensive interior renovations costing another S$12 million, including the upgrading of the ceilings, floors, lobby and lifts, and the introduction of car parking facilities with the addition of a mechanical parking system for 30 cars. The building re-opened in April 2005 with full occupancy. McCann Worldgroup occupies the fifth to eighth floors while a beauty/spa operator, Expressions International, takes up the top two floors. The flagship