Constructed in four phases from 1864 to 1920, Government Offices was built to provide much needed space for the growing colonial administration.

In front of the building was a public square which was given the name Empress Place by the Municipal Council in 1907 in honour of Queen Victoria.

In the surrounding area also known as Empress Place, the Memorial Hall and Tower were added in 1905 and extensive renovations were carried out from 1954 until 1979.

Raffles' statue, now in front of the Victoria Memorial Hall and Theatre, as it is now called, was first erected on the Padang in 1887 but later removed to its present site in 1919.

Extensive restoration began, culminating in the opening of the Empress Place Museum on 7 April 1989 by the then Second Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong.

Although the museum was afflicted with structural and logistical problems from its inception, it nonetheless managed to organise five outstanding exhibitions on Chinese history in six years.

The first of these exhibitions, which featured royal objects from the Qing dynasty, put on display many precious artefacts never seen before outside China.

Inside, the rooms are stately, with high ceilings, handsome Doric columns and exquisite plaster mouldings and cornices.