This postcard shows two contrasting views of the Central Business District (CBD) waterfront taken at different points in time. The top view was most probably taken in the mid 1980s and shows prominent landmarks such as: the 44-storey Standard Chartered Bank Building (left centre), which was officially opened in 1984 to house the bank’s headquarters; the 30-storey United Overseas Bank (UOB) Building (centre), which was the tallest landmark in the city centre when it was completed in 1974; and the 52-storey Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Centre, which overtook the UOB Building as the highest structure in the area when it was completed in 1976 (right centre). The bottom view was most likely taken in the late 1980s and shows the latest addition to the skyline: the 63-storey Overseas Union Bank (OUB) Centre (centre background). 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.
