This postcard shows the civic district on the north bank of the Singapore. Prominent colonial landmarks situated on the north bank include: the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (left foreground), originally known as the Town Hall and the Victoria Memorial Hall when the two structures were completed in 1861 and 1905 respectively; the Dalhousie Obelisk (centre foreground), originally erected in 1850 near Dalhousie Pier at a site along the Singapore River where Lord James Andrew, the Marquis of Dalhousie and Governor-General of India (1848-1856), landed when he visited Singapore; the Anderson Bridge (right foreground), completed in 1910 as a replacement for Cavenagh Bridge situated further upriver; the Old Supreme Court Building with its distinctive dome (left centre), built in 1939 at the site of the Grand Hotel de l'Europe; the adjoining City Hall (left centre) building, completed in 1929 as the Municipal Building before it was renamed in 1951 when Singapore was proclaimed a city by a Royal Charter; and the Padang (centre), the open field at the centre of the civic district used for social, sporting and civic activities. The towering skyscraper (right background, under construction) is the 73-storey tower of the Raffles City office, shopping and hotel complex. Raffles City was officially opened in October 1986 with the tower occupied by the Westin Stamford, then the tallest hotel in the world.
