In 1907, the Municipal Council commemorated Queen Victoria’s reign as the Empress of India by naming the first pedestrian area in Singapore, the Empress Place.

The Empress Place Building was originally designated a court house, but it was soon occupied  and operated instead as the Registry of Births and Deaths, the Citizenship Registry and the Immigration Department until the late 1980s.

 

The various departments then relocated to more modern premises and the building was restored as an historical and cultural exhibition venue. In April 1989, The Empress Place, a museum exhibition centre was established. Its first exhibition consisted of rare Qing Dynasty artefacts and furniture. Further renovations were scheduled in 1997, and later, it reopened as an Asian Civilisations Museum.

 Photos courtesy of National Archives of Singapore

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