This postcard shows the Central Business District (CBD) skyline with its towering skyscrapers. The CBD area on the south bank of the Singapore River underwent several phases of major redevelopment from the late 1960s to 1980s as part of the government’s urban renewal schemes for the old city centre. Prominent buildings erected as part of the renewal projects included (from left to right): the 44-storey Standard Chartered Bank Building, which was officially opened in 1984 to house the bank’s headquarters; the 47-storey Raffles Tower owned by Singapore Land that was completed in 1982 and renamed Shell Tower after its main tenant; the 30-storey United Overseas Bank (UOB) Building, which was the tallest landmark in the city centre when it was erected in 1974; the 63-storey Overseas Union Bank (OUB) Centre, the tallest building in Asia and the eleventh highest in the world when it was finished in November 1986; and the 52-storey Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Centre, which was the highest building in the CBD when it was completed in 1976. Amidst the changing city skyline stood old colonial structures such as the Elgin Bridge (foreground), the original structure being erected in 1863 and named after Lord Elgin, Governor General of India (1862-1863), before a new bridge with the same name replaced it in 1929.
