Supreme House was a 14-storey office-cum-shopping complex located along Penang Road near the Orchard Road shopping district. The complex was one of the first major projects to be completed under the government’s urban renewal programme for the city centre. Opened in July 1971, the $15 million complex housed offices, a medical centre, retail and dining outlets, as well as a discotheque in the basement. The complex’s main tenant was the Metro department store chain, which opened an outlet there that occupied the first three floors. Supreme House was renamed Park Mall in January 1992 after undergoing a $40 million refurbishment. The revamped shopping mall was at first marketed as a fashion hub, with anchor tenant Style Singapore specialising in local fashion brands. Following another round of renovations, Park Mall was re-opened in 1995 as a furniture mall with Scandinavian furniture chain Bolig as its main tenant.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.
