The Orchard Road area’s oldest healthcare provider is Gleneagles Hospital at Napier Road opposite Singapore Botanic Gardens. This hospital was originally established by the British European Association (now British Association) to provide medical services to British citizens.
Gleneagles Hospital occupies the site of Harvestehude, a house named after a place in Germany, which was built in the early 1900s by German resident Gustav C W Wolber. During the late 1930s, the house was taken over by two British ladies who converted it into a boarding house named Gleneagles after a scenic valley in Scotland.
In the 1950s, a luxury hotel called Gleneagles Hotel was built next to Harvestehude but it was taken over in 1958 by the British European Association for use as a hospital. The former Harvestehude building served as staff quarters and was renamed Macauley House. In 1978, Macauley House was redeveloped into a five-storey medical block and in 1987, part of it was again redeveloped into the current ten-storey hospital complex.
