Change Alley, Singapore

Change Alley in Hitachi Tower

Entrance to Change Alley in second floor of Hitachi Tower
Location	Hitachi Tower, Raffles Place, Singapore

Change Alley is an air-conditioned shopping arcade flanked by 2 skyscrapers, Chevron House and Hitachi Tower, located in the financial district of Raffles Place in Downtown Core planning area of Singapore. It is an alley that links Raffles Place and Collyer Quay. It was renovated to what it is today in 1989, replacing the old Change Alley whose history dates back as far as 1819.

1819: Owing to the poor geographical location of the beach front stretching from Esplanade to Rochor River as the prior trading site, Raffles shifted the commercial centre to the South Bank of Singapore (today’s South Boat Quay), nearer to the mouth of the Singapore River, where waters were less shallow and more accessible.

1822: Raffles Place was designated as the planned business center of SG in Raffles’ Town Plan. However, at that point of time, the area was unoccupied, swampy land cut through with creeks and covered with jungle and mangrove trees. It had to be reclaimed. A small hill at the end of Tanjong Singapura (today’s Raffles Place) was levelled to use the soil to fill up the SouthWest bank of Singapore River. Architect George D. Coleman was involved in the land reclamation.

1858: The commercial square was later renamed Raffles Place.

1890: Change Alley acquired its name after a trading hub known as Exchange Alley in London and maybe from the large number of Indian money changers there.[4] It became a place where locals conducted barter trade with regional sea merchants and Europeans.

1905: 4-storey Winchester House was built at the entrance to Change Alley at the Collyer Quay side.

1920s: 5-storey Shell House was built at the start of this decade at the entrance to Change Alley at the Raffles Place, it was later completed in 1960 as a 14-storey office block and renamed Singapore Rubber House. Change Alley was not famous yet but recognized as a meeting place for European buyers and Asian brokers. There were only a few stalls then so it served as a convenient thoroughfare for pedestrians to get from Collyer Quay to Raffles Place.