This postcard shows an aerial view of the old civic quarters of the city centre on the north bank of the Singapore River and the Central Business District (CBD) on the south bank. Prominent landmarks situated on the north bank include: the Empress Place Building (left foreground), erected in 1865 and initially referred to as Government Offices before it gained its new moniker after the public square in front of it was named after Queen Victoria in 1907; the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (centre foreground), originally known as the Town Hall and the Victoria Memorial Hall when the two structures were completed in 1861 and 1905 respectively; and the Old Supreme Court Building with its distinctive dome (right foreground), built in 1939 at the site of the Grand Hotel de l'Europe. Notable buildings found in the CBD area include: the 30-storey United Overseas Bank (UOB) Building (left centre), which was the tallest landmark in the city centre when it was completed in 1974; 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); and the 63-storey Overseas Union Bank (OUB) Centre (behind UOB Building), the tallest building in Asia and the eleventh highest in the world when it was finished in November 1986.
