City Hall / Marina Centre, Bugis & Beach Road

The Offices

This location is still classed as being within the Financial District although is less dominated by financial institutions, compared with the ‘Golden Shoe’ area of Raffles Place /Shenton Way/Tanjong Pagar. Raffles City Tower is the landmark office tower in this area and other well established buildings include Peninsular Plaza, The Adelphi and Odeon Towers. These buildings are popular with lawyers because of the close proximity of the law courts (High Court and Supreme Court). The area is often referred to as The Civic District, as it houses many Government bodies. The Treasury Department has its own building on High Street, along with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Economic Development Council is located in Raffles City Tower. A string of Government agencies have secured space in the recently completed Funan Centre next to Peninsula Plaza, including The Department of Statistics, The Attorney General’s Office and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO).

The Amenities

The area is served by City Hall MRT on the original East West line and is just one stop from Raffles Place. There are many hotels in the district from the high end Raffles Hotel and JW Marriott Hotel at South Beach, with upper range choices being Swissotel and Fairmont Hotel. Affordable options include Grand Park Hotel & Carlton Hotel, with the economy option being Peninsular Excelsior Hotel. The retail scene in City Hall is bustling with a modern 5-storey shopping center at Raffles City Shopping Centre, 4-storey retail mall at Funan, 5-storey retail podium at Peninsula Plaza and other retail outlets in The Adelphi, High Street Centre and Bras Basah Complex. Evening entertainment is focused on Chijmes and the bars along Seah Street.

The History

Raffles City Complex was built on the former site of Raffles Institute on North Bridge Road. This road is the main thoroughfare running through the City Hall district. It is one of the oldest roads in Singapore and was constructed by GD Coleman between 1833 and 1835, and built by convict labour. The road was a route for trams, trolley buses and was called the "Big Horseway" in the past. The road is crossed by Stamford Road, which was named after the modern founder of Singapore, Thomas Stamford Raffles. It was formerly known as Hospital Street. In Hokkien, it was formerly known as lau chui khe or "flowing water road", due to the high tide of the now covered up Stamford Canal, which often overflowed its banks. The road used to house the Saint Andrew's School from the late 19th century till 1941 when it moved to Woodsville Hill. The site was taken by the now demolished National Library in 1960 until it was demolished in 2005 to make way for the new Fort Canning Tunnel.

The area is the location of the famous Raffles Hotel, which started as a privately owned beach house built in the early 1830s. It first became Emerson's Hotel when Dr. Charles Emerson leased the building in 1878. Upon his death in 1883, the hotel closed, and the Raffles Institution stepped in to use the building as a boarding house until Dr. Emerson's lease expired in September 1887.

Almost immediately after the first lease expired, the Sarkies Brothers leased the property from Syed Mohamed Alsagoff, its owner, with the intention of turning it into a high-end hotel. A few months later, on December 1, 1887, the ten-room Raffles Hotel opened. Its proximity to the beach and its reputation for high standards in services and accommodations made the hotel popular with wealthy clientele.

The Offices

This location is a growing commercial office district on the edge of CBD, with a number of significant commercial developments completed in recent years. These included South Beach Tower (500,000 sq ft of office space) and Duo Tower (570,000 sq ft of office space) and another major mixed use scheme, Gucco Midtown (650,000 sq ft of office space) is scheduled for completion in 2022. Shaw Tower is due to be redeveloped in the coming years, that will further enhance this location as a business address. Other important office buildings in this area include The Gateway designed by IM Pei and the distinctive looking office tower The Concourse. Paul Rudolph designed The Concourse as a "Tropical Skyscraper". His use of solar shading, wide overhangs, and communal gardens and external balconies has some similarities with the ideas advanced by Ken Yeang for the bioclimatic skyscraper. Other office space can also be found in this location in buildings such as The Plaza, Beach Centre and Bulk Haul House. A number of multinational companies have their own stand-alone buildings, such as Diners Club and Great Eastern Life Insurance. Beach Road is dissected by Rochor Road on the CBD boundary. Those properties to the East of Rochor Road are outside the CBD and those to the West are inside the CBD.

The Amenities

Beach Road is a long road which is served by 4 MRT stations. Those buildings to the far West would use either Esplanade or City Hall MRT stations, those buildings in the middle would use Bugis MRT station and those buildings at the East of Beach Road, would use Nichol Highway MRT station. There are numerous bus routes servicing this district, as it is a main feeder route to the core of financial district. There are several high end hotels in the area including JW Marriott at South Beach and the Hyatt Andaz Hotel at Duo Tower. Mid-range hotels would include The Plaza Hotel and there are many budget / boutique hotels in this location. There ample eateries in the vicinity with many using either Suntec City Bugis Junction or Golden Mile Food Centre as their destination of choice for lunch. There are residential schemes in Duo Tower, The Concourse, City Gate and The Plaza.

The History

Beach Road is a road located within the planning areas of Kallang and Rochor. It starts at its junction with Crawford Street and runs in a generally southerly direction. It enters the CBD at its junction with Rochor Road and ends at its junction with Stamford Road and St. Andrew's Road to the south. As its name implies, Beach Road used to run along Singapore's southern coast, before land reclamation took place in the Kallang Basin area.

The first land reclamation beyond the foreshore line was in 1843 alongside Beach Road which provided land to build the Alhambra and Marlborough Cinemas, a police station and the Singapore Volunteer Corps Headquarters and Drill Hall (later converted to the Singapore Infantry Regiment Headquarters). Further land reclamation began around the 1880s, gradually robbing Beach Road of its sea frontage. Over the years, Nicoll Highway and later Marina Square and Suntec City were all built on reclaimed land, pushing Beach Road even further inland.