Orchard Road’s humble beginnings comprising gambier plantations and nutmeg orchards date back to the late 1820s. Orchard Road was named after these plantations.
By the mid-1800s, Orchard Road had started to transform into a residential neighbourhood, leading to a number of social and religious institutions and businesses being established.
Emerald Hill was the site of a former nutmeg orchard which started to take shape as a residential neighbourhood in the early 1900s. By the 1930s, Emerald Hill consisted of at least 112 houses, 45 of which were occupied by Peranakan families.
Cold Storage, the earliest supermarket in Singapore, opened its first retail space on Orchard Road on 24 Mar 1905.
Ngee Ann Building, the first building to be completed on the site of Tai Shan Ting cemetery, opened in 1957. The 10-storey building housed apartments and shops.
CK Tang department store, Singapore’s first upscale shopping centre opened.
Glutton’s Square, a hawker centre by night (carpark by day), opened and started to attract local and foreign diners. At the height of its popularity in the 1970s, there were 80 stalls at Glutton’s Square.
From the late 1960s, the Orchard Road area also became a hub for discotheques and nightclubs. Singapore’s first disco, Gina’s A Go Go, opened at Tanglin Road in 1966, followed by the more popular Pink Pussycat at Prince’s Hotel Garni (now Grand Park Orchard Hotel) and Golden Venus at Orchard Hotel. In the 1990s, more discos opened with the notable ones being Sparks at Ngee Ann City and Fire at Orchard Plaza.
Opening of Mandarin Hotel (known as Mandarin Orchard Singapore today), Singapore’s tallest building and largest hotel, which features Top of the M, Singapore’s first revolving rooftop restaurant, and Chatterbox, a 24-hour coffee house famous for its chicken rice.
Orchard Road became a one-way street and Plaza Singapura, the first multi-storey shopping mall on Orchard Road and one of the region’s largest shopping malls at the time, opened. It was known for its anchor tenant - the Japanese Yaohan Department Store.
Orchard Road’s first Christmas Lightup took place. This campaign has since run annually for the last 35 years, with the event having grown in scale, and its name evolving from “Christmas at the Equator”, to “Christmas in the Tropics” and “Christmas on a Great Street” today.
Swing Singapore, an Orchard Road street party, organised by SAFRA, made its debut on Orchard Road and drew an estimated 250,000 revellers – the highest turnout for an outdoor party held in Singapore at the time. The event continued till 1991 and attracted 500,000 revellers in its final edition.
The Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (now Singapore Tourism Board) launched the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) campaign. A stretch of Orchard Road from the junction of Paterson Road to The Centrepoint was closed to traffic to mark the occasion and the street was converted into an outdoorcatwalk featuring the latest fashion, vintage cars, giant shopping trolleys and floats.
The Orchard Road pedestrian mall underwent a revamp to enhance the walkability and street experience for visitors with the addition of new street lamps, furniture and the creation of spaces for pop-ups.
New shopping malls Orchard Central, ION Orchard, Mandarin Gallery and 313@Somerset opened progressively through 2009.
To remain competitive, Orchard Road offerings are continuously being refreshed. Most recently, Violet Oon’s flagship lifestyle concept which tells the Singapore food story from colonial times through nationhood opened at ION Orchard, while Design Orchard, which profiles homegrown brands and provides spaces for budding designers to collaborate, conceptualise and commercialise their products under one roof, opened at Orchard Green.
We are working with the Singapore Tourism Board to strengthen Orchard Road's position as a must-visit lifestyle destination. Check out our plans for Orchard Road!