As the Sultan Abdul Samad Building was designed and its construction began before Kuala Lumpur became the capital of the Federated Malay States, it became it inadequate for the use of a burgeoning bureaucracy when it was made the capital. Many buildings were then constructed near it around the Padang. A printing office was constructed in 1899 on the southwest corner of the Padang, the town hall to the northeast in 1904, the FMS Railway offices to the southeast in 1905, the General Post Office south of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in 1907, the Survey Department building in 1910 and the Supreme Court in 1915 in the northeast area.