A photograph of Raffles Place with the Chartered Bank building in the background, John Little Building on the right and the Robinson’s building on the left. Established as a commercial centre in 1824, it was known then as Commercial Square but later renamed to Raffles Place in 1858. Chartered Bank (now known as Standard Chartered Bank) was opened in Singapore in 1859. The Chartered Bank building seen in the photograph was designed by Swan & Maclaren and was eventually demolished in 1981. Raffles Place was also a retail and shopping district, before it was replaced by Orchard Road in the 1960s. John Little’s Departmental Store, for instance, was one of the premier stores in the early 20th century. John Little was bought over by Robinson’s in 1955. Created in 1858, Robinson’s moved to the location shown in the photograph in November 1941. Unfortunately, the building burnt down in 1972. The John Little building, on the other hand, was demolished in 1982 and replaced by Shell Towers. Both Robinson’s and John Little eventually moved to Orchard Road.
