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Yue Hwa

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Yue Hwa Building is a historic building located at the corner of the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street and Upper Cross Street, in Singapore Chinatown. Yue Hwa Building was originally known as Nam Tin Building. Also known as Nam Tin Hotel, the Great Southern Hotel it as built by Swan and Maclaren in 1936 and owned by Lum Chang Holdings. In 1993, Lum Chang Holdings sold the building at a price of S million to Yu Kwok Chun, who was the head of a Hong Kong-based multinational corporation with its flagship department store, Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium Limited. In February 1994, the Great Southern Hotel ended its operations and was converted to a departmental store. As the 999-year leasehold building has been gazetted by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for architectural conservation, the new owner was asked to preserve the building's facade. Yue Hwa Chinese Products Department Store was opened on 9 October 1996, and sells a range of traditional Chinese products including herbs, medicines, porcelain, furniture, arts and crafts, garments and textiles.

The building was fitted with steel frame windows, with metal railings and grills, which were considered fashionable in the 1930s. The six storey building was the first to have a lift. The roof terrace and the whole of the fifth floor was occupied by a then-well-known cabaret, the Southern Cabaret.