The land on which the building stood was once the Tai Shan Ting Cemetery, owned by the Ngee Ann Kongsi.
[1] A special shed was built for the ceremony, presided over by Buddhist priest Reverend Miao Chung of the Sam Lim Ji Temple on Kim Keat Road.
[2] In the same month, then-Ngee Ann Kongsi chairman Lee Wee Nam announced that there were also plans to demolish the nearby Kampong Teochew to make way for "better class bungalow buildings.
[7] The project was initially planned to include a "garden city" with and a self-contained housing unit accompanied by a shopping centre, with 84 shophouses, 423 flats, 20 bungalows, a hotel, school, cinema, amusement park, electrical substation and a petrol kiosk.
However, in July 1952, it was announced that the project would have to be developed by private investors and not by the Ngee Ann Kongsi as initially planned, as the trustees of the organisation were prevented by law from doing so.
However, by February 1955, before tenders had been called for the project, its architect, Ng Keng Siang, had begun seeking approval from the Singapore Improvement Trust for an alteration to the plans for the first phase, which would add a floor to the building, adding 10 more flats.
[8] The project's plans were eventually revised such that it only involved a 10-storey building with 90 flats and 12 shops, as well as a hotel and restaurant next to it.
[16] The building became a "popular place for expatriates taking long-term apartments in Orchard Road.
[21] In May 1983, the building's tenants, which then included the Mont D'or Coffee House, the Asia Motor Company, the American Express Travel Service and Transmarco, were told to vacate the premises by 14 August.
[22] However, by then, the land on which Orchard Square was to be built on had shrunk by over three quarters and construction had yet to begin, with the original plans for the project never materialising.