Stojan Simić, a politician and a businessman, member of the influential Simić family, notable in the 19th century Serbia both in politics and culture, purchased the lot in the late 1830s. It was a piece of marshland which encompassed the modern features of Old Palace, Pioneers Park and Park Aleksandrov. Simić drained the marsh, filled and leveled the terrain and on the northern side of the modern Kralja Milana street constructed a house 1840-1842. The edifice became known as the Old Konak. Development of the first Serbian royal compound began in 1843, when the ruling prince Alexander Karađorđević purchased the konak with the surrounding garden.