About four years after the
Treaty was signed in 1819 which marked Singapore as a British settlement,
Temenggong Abdul Rahman, his family and followers moved to the 200 acres of land (part of
Teluk Belanga area) as assigned by Sir
Stamford Raffles. The European-style mansion known as Istana Lama was built and completed in 1824. Temenggong Abdul Rahman died in this house on 8 December 1825 and was buried at the nearby
Makam Diraja Teluk Blangah. His eldest son Tun Haji Abdullah first informally succeed him as the
de facto Temenggong of Johor. The house was later refurnished with concrete structures by his second son
Daeng Ibrahim in 1830, who would informally succeed Tun Haji Abdullah as the Temonggong in 1833. It was noted for being the birthplace for Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim's son
Wan Abu Bakar, his eventual successor and future
Sultan of Johor, who was born on 3 February 1833. Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim was officially made known on 19 August 1841, and upon becoming the
de facto Maharajah of Johor on 10 March 1855, he began to administer his territory
Iskandar Puteri from this residence. Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim died in the house on 31 January 1862 and was buried at the nearby Makam on the following day, his son Wan Abu Bakar succeed him as the Temenggong on 2 February 1862 and soon moved his residence to
Tyersall. Temenggong Abu Bakar had once suggested the former palace to operate as a Malay high school. However, as there was an English school that existed not far from the palace, the idea of opening the school was no longer being suggested. The former palace was then given to a Chinese towkay who was a friend to the royalty. In 1931, the Chinese towkay soon rented out the former palace to a German couple B. Hackmeier and his wife Bertha and they repurposed it into a hotel named Hotel Bellevue. Following the end of
Japanese occupation of Singapore, the former palace was sold to a company Guan Seng Kee in 1951. The company utilized it to serve as a hostel for their workers. ==Demolition==