a piece of land with the buildings on it
a building or part of a building, esp as occupied and used for commercial purposes
matters previously stated; specif the preliminary and explanatory part of a legal deed
(sense 1) because the buildings or parts of a building would be detailed in the preliminary part of a legal deed, and would then be referred to in the deed as ‘the premises’. Premises actually entered English in the 14th cent. as a technical term for initial propositions in logic. The legal sense arose in the 15th cent., and the more general use for a building and grounds was established in the 18th cent