This postcard shows the Chinatown area with the Central Business District skyline in the distance. Both areas underwent major redevelopment between the late 1960s and 1980s as part of the government’s urban renewal scheme for the old city centre. One notable structure built in the Chinatown area under the renewal scheme was the Hong Lim Complex (left), a Housing and Development Board residential and commercial project completed in 1980. New buildings erected in the CBD area as part of the renewal project included the 30-storey United Overseas Bank (UOB) Building (centre), which was the tallest landmark in the city centre when it was completed in 1974. However, it was soon overtaken as the highest structure in the area when the 52-storey Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Centre was completed in 1976 (left centre). More skyscrapers were added to the CBD skyline following another round of urban redevelopment in the 1980s. The most notable building to be erected was the 63-storey Overseas Union Bank (OUB) Centre (right centre). Built at a cost of $500 million to house the bank’s headquarters, the 280-metre-high structure was then the tallest building in Asia and the eleventh highest in the world when it was completed in November 1986.
