This thesis presents an experimental investigation on turbulent flow around a square cylinder at a finite distance from a smooth wall. The turbulent boundary layer thickness was 3.6 times the cylinder height (h) while the Reynolds number based on the free-stream velocity and the cylinder height was 12750. The gap distance (G) between the bottom face of the cylinder and the wall was varied, resulting in gap ratios of G⁄h= 0, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 8.0. A two-dimensional, two-component time-resolved particle image velocimetry system was used to perform velocity measurements in both double frame and high-speed modes. Wall proximity effects on the mean flow, Reynolds stresses, triple velocity correlations and two-point autocorrelations were examined. Premultiplied frequency spectra of velocity fluctuations, temporal autocorrelations, reverse flow area and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) were employed to investigate the unsteadiness of the separated shear layers and the wake flow. The results indicated that as gap ratio decreases, asymmetry in the wake region becomes more pronounced and the size of the mean recirculation bubbles in the cylinder wake increases. Meanwhile, the Kelvin-Helmholtz vortical structures in the separated shear layers decreased in size as the cylinder approached the wall. With decreasing gap ratio, the magnitudes of the Reynolds stresses and triple velocity correlations generally decreased but the wake width and vortex formation length increased. Also, the size of the large-scale structures and the integral time scales increased with decreasing gap ratio. The critical gap ratio, below which the von Kármán vortex shedding is suppressed, was found to be 0.3. The dominant Strouhal numbers of the Kelvin-Helmholtz and von Kármán instabilities, expressed in terms of the free-stream velocity, were observed to be insensitive to gap ratio. However, the von Kármán Strouhal number, expressed in terms of the mean streamwise velocity at the cylinder vertical midpoint, increased as gap ratio decreased. Furthermore, the reverse flow area displayed temporal fluctuations and its dominant Strouhal number decreased with decreasing gap ratio. From the POD analysis, the first two POD modes were found to be the most dominant, but their correlation weakened as gap ratio decreased.