Despite a huge groundswell of public dissent, the library was closed on 31 March 2004, and was demolished in July that year to make way for the construction of the Fort Canning Tunnel to ease road traffic to the city.

The controversy surrounding the building's demise has been credited for sparking greater awareness of local cultural roots and an unprecedented wave in favour of heritage conservation among Singaporeans.

Corner, the assistant Director of Gardens in the Straits Settlement, with the support of Sir Shenton Thomas, met a group of Japanese scientists and nobles with the intention of protecting the invaluable collections of the Library and museum.

[5] The chosen site was situated among many civic and educational institutions on or around Fort Canning Hill and the nearby Bras Basah area.

[8] Designed and built by the Public Works Department, the new red-bricked building was officially opened and christened as the National Library on 12 November 1960 by the President of Singapore, Yusof bin Ishak.

[9] To cultivate reading habits among the young, the Library initiated many activities such as story-telling sessions for children and talks for teenagers, conducted by the staff or members of the public.

The landmark Balustrade or front porch and steps leading up to the Library became an intimate public space where one could sit and read, wait, chat or simply watch the world go by.

[11] On 28 May, the MND Minister, S. Dhanabalan chaired a dialogue attended predominantly by invited professionals such as planners, architects and property consultants to review the Master Plan exhibited a month earlier.

[12] On 23 March 1989, the MND revealed plans in Parliament to build a new National Library and four new branches in Yishun, Tampines, Hougang and Woodlands.

An important revision was the mentioning of the one-way Fort Canning Tunnel, entering the hill at the existing National Library and emerging at Penang Road to be built by the year 2000.

[18] On 8 December 1998, a letter by Kelvin Wang to the Straits Times Forum page triggered a string of events that would bring the normally passive Singaporeans to display rare sparks of civic activism.

[21] On 13 March 1999, SMU organised a public symposium at the Singapore Art Museum (former St Joseph's Institution) to gather feedback for its campus masterplan.

This was the first occasion where URA made public their definitive decision to demolish the National Library building as "it was not of great architectural merit and should not be conserved.

"[22] From March to April 1999, there arose a huge groundswell of public dissent in the media over the National Library building's fate, as well as the drastic physical alterations of its environs.

A few articles and letters highlighted that the adamant official response to public dissent ran counter to the spirit of the Government's S21 Vision, which expressed a desire to foster civic participation and active citizenry.

The controversy surrounding the building's demise has been credited for sparking greater awareness of local cultural roots and an unprecedented wave in favour of heritage conservation among Singaporeans.