Prominent landmarks shown in this picture of Orchard Road include (from left to right): the Mandarin Hotel with its distinctive saucer-shaped tower, officially opened in 1971; the ten-storey Ngee Ann Building, which was demolished in 1985 to make way for the Ngee Ann City shopping-cum-office complex; the Wisma Indonesia, also known as Indonesia House, built in 1964 to serve as the Indonesian Embassy and demolished in 1983 to make way for the Wisma Atria shopping-cum-office complex; the colonial-style barracks of the Orchard Road Police Station, which was eventually cleared in 1982 to make way for the Orchard station of the Mass Rapid Transit train network; the Liat Towers, completed in 1965 and named after former Cycle and Carriage chairman Chua Cheng Liat, with the tower block under construction added in 1975; and the Far East Shopping Centre office-cum-shopping complex, erected in 1974.Orchard Road, located in the central region of Singapore, began as a small country lane in the 1830s surrounded by nutmeg plantations, with spice gardens, pepper farms and fruit tree orchards later sprouting up in the area. Its name was thought to have been derived either from the orchards that once flanked either sides of the lane, or from a Mr. Orchid, who was a plantation owner in the area. By 1860, there were only a few nutmeg plantations left in the area following the worldwide drop in nutmeg prices. The areas surrounding Orchard Road were subsequently developed for residential purposes, with private houses and bungalows common along nearby Scotts and Tanglin Roads. One of the first major retailers to setup shop in the area was the Singapore Cold Storage, which opened a grocery shop along the street in 1905. However, major development of the area only began in the 1960s and by the 1970s, Orchard Road had been transformed into the tourist and shopping belt it is today.
