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 centre), 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 (left centre, behind Empress Place Building), originally known as the Town Hall and the Victoria Memorial Hall when the two structures were completed in 1861 and 1905 respectively; the Old Supreme Court Building with its distinctive dome (left foreground), built in 1939 at the site of the Grand Hotel de l'Europe; and the Colombo Court shopping and office complex (centre foreground, behind Old Supreme Court Building) developed and completed by the Housing Development Board in 1971. Notable buildings found in the CBD area include: the 30-storey United Overseas Bank (UOB) Building (left background), 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 (right background), which overtook the UOB Building as the highest structure in the area when it was completed in 1976.
