Shunned...

The building was completed in 1933 by the architectural firm Keys & Dowdeswell, and built on the existing structure of the Capitol Theatre, built earlier in 1929.During the Japanese Occupation, the Capitol operated under the name Kyo-Ei Gekijo until 1944, when a bomb planted by the anti-Japanese resistance damaged it. The theatre's English-language movies were later forbidden by the Japanese who replaced them with their own films. After 1946, the Capitol was purchased by Shaw and rebuilt. It became the organisation's flagship theatre (1,686 seats), and renamed as Shaw Building. The patrons had "the choice of gallery, stalls and circle seats which were priced at S$1, S$2 and S$3 respectively from the early post-World War II years until the 1970s.

It was listed for preservation in August 1983 by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and acquired by it in 1983-1984 so that it would be preserved as part of a future development...