Goodwood Park Hotel

Goodwood Park Hotel

Having worked from its Kuala Lumpur Sales office in 1989 - 1992,my personal experiences in promoting this grand hotel has been nothing short of marvelous,great pride and admiration.It was an honor selling the Goodwood Park and to those who acknowledged its magnificent colonial history way back when. The Goodwood Park is simply unique and wonderful; where no other hotel in Sinagpore would share a similar outstanding merit other than the Raffles till this day - Oxymanus

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By Tan, Bonny written on 1999-04-17
National Library Board Singapore

The Goodwood Park Hotel, commonly known as Goodwood or Goodwood Hotel, located off Scotts Road, is a landmark hotel and previously a Teutonian clubhouse for local Germans in Singapore's early history. Designed after a Rhineland castle, the Goodwood Park Hotel is appreciated for its distinct architectural trimmings, particularly its unique turret. It stands on a total of 6 ha of land with at least 285 rooms.

History
First Tower
The original Goodwood Tower served as the fifth and grandest clubhouse for the Teutonia Club when it was built in 1900. It cost $20,000 and was opened with a grand ball on 21 September 1900. The Teutonia Club had been set up in 1856 and had seen the likes of Prince Heinrich of Prussia who visited the club on 20 June 1880. The new Goodwood Tower saw extravagant musical evenings performed for the German community.

World Wars
In 1914, the previously happy relations between the colonial English and the Germans were marred with the start of World War I. The building was declared enemy property and converted into an electric power house, generating energy for the neighbourhood.

After the war, in 1918, it was auctioned to the three Manasseh brothers, Morris, Ezekiel and Ellis who promptly renamed it Goodwood Hall (after the Goodwood Racecourse) and ran it like a gracious English manor house. Goodwood Hall entertained the rich and famous like the Duke of Richmond and the Prince of Wales. In 1929, the Manasseh brothers renamed her the Goodwood Park Hotel. However, its glamorous days took a dramatic turn when it became the residence for senior Japanese officers during the Japanese Occupation in 1945. At the end of World War II, the Australian Army occupied it and carried out investigations and trials against those who had committed war crimes.

Residential Hotel
By 1947, Goodwood Park became publicly listed under Vivian Bath, stepson of Ezekiel Manasseh. He turned it into a residential hotel and undertook to redevelop it at a cost of $2.5 million, tagging onto the booming tourist industry of the late 1950s. He sold the hotel to Malayan Banking soon after. It was the first hotel to have a swimming pool by 1956 but it has now been converted to a carpark. Long-term residents included Mr Fenner, the first Inspector-General of Singapore and various Justices who sat at court such as Justice Wilson, Justice Buttrose and Justice Winslow. King Baudoin of Belgium, Sir Noel Coward and William Holden are just some of the famed glitterati who also resided there. In 1950 the tower was demolished and a new turret was set in place in 1959. Expanding business saw a new wing added in 1956 in the tower block.

Today
Khoo Teck Puat bought over the hotel in 1963 from the principal shareholder, Mrs Elsie Manasseh, forming the Goodwood Group. With the addition of the Parklane wing, a 5 storey block, in 1968 and the Mayfair wing in 1970, the rooms totalled 285. The charm of Goodwood's facade would have been turned to dust if Khoo Teck Puat's plan to raise a 16 storey skyscraper in 1970 had not been stalled by public protest. Instead, Khoo spent $10 million in 1977 to restore the hotel.

Goodwood Park Hotel Tower Wing (Teutonia Club), 22 Scotts Road, Singapore 228221.
Completed: 1900.
Architect: R. A. J. Bidwell.
Owner: Goodwood Park Hotel Ltd.
Gazetted: 23 March 1989.


Author
Bonny Tan, 2002