Raffles Place: Then and Now

RAFFLES PLACE HAS been Singapore's commercial district for nearly 200 years. Beyond the skyscrapers, it's hard to think of this bustling river-facing financial microcosm as a bucolic hill before it was leveled in 1822 under the Singapore Town Plan to build up trade and commerce.

It was aptly named Commercial Square, housing banks and trade agencies. In 1858, it was renamed Raffles Place and eventually became home to godowns, shophouse…