This building is Singapore's oldest surviving building. Built and designed by G.D. Coleman in 1827, the British colonial government housed the court and various government offices until 1965. Singapore's first independent parliamentary sessions were held there. It then shaped a nation from 1965 to 1999. The Old Parliament House reflects the economic vibrancy of the colonial period. Greeting visitors to this English neo-Palladian building is a bronze elephant statue, a gift from King Chulalongkorn of Siam on his visit to Singapore in 1871. Today, this colonial building has a film theatrette, a music chamber, a black box, a rehearsal studio, a visual art gallery and a constitutional history display.

In 2002, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts took over the 940 sqm Old Parliament House and announced plans to transform the Empress Place precinct into a multidisciplinary arts and cultural hub. This arts and cultural area includes the Victoria Theatre, Victoria Concert Hall, and the second wing of the Asian Civilisation Museum.

The 72-seater film threatrette in the first storey will screen art films in the evenings. The Parliament Chamber in the second storey will be the small 160-seater music chamber. It will host music performances, literary readings and small-scale drama performances. Also situated in the second storey is a 120-seater Blackbox that will host small-scale dance and drama performances. Performers can have their drama rehearsals in a studio located directly above the Blackbox. Again, in the second storey, there is a visual art gallery for visual art exhibition. The corridor in the second storey will be used to display photographs, prints, reproduced documents and artifacts.

A new board, The Old Parliament House Limited, has just been set up to manage the building and arts centre. Headed by Edmund Cheng Wai Wing, Deputy Chairman of the National Arts Council, this board, which includes nine members appointed for a two-year term, will advise on the planning and operation of the building. At the same time, they will contribute to the development of the Empress Place vicinity into an arts centre. Renovation work for the arts centre will likely be completed in October 2003. The area will host music, theatre and dance performances, visual art exhibitions, art films, recitals and seminars. Also, there will be a range of food and retail outlets and heritage displays to showcase our constitutional history.