Singapore's hardly a "city" anymore, but the building's name recalls the years when Singapore was a city ruled by the British. The structure was completed in 1929. It stands out from the other buildings in Singapore's colonial district, with its colonnade of Corinthian columns.
Like many of Singapore's historic structures, the City Hall bore silent witness to the atrocities of World War II. The Japanese occupying forces used the City Hall as their seat of government, and deployed prisoners of war from this place to POW camps at Changi and Selarang. Finally, it was here that the Japanese surrendered to the British in 1945.
City Hall also played an important part in the country's birth: it was here that then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declared home rule in 1959 and independence from Malaysia in 1965.
By 2012, the City Hall and the adjacent Old Supreme Court Building will be the new site for the National Art Gallery of Singapore.
Address: 3 St. Andrew's Road, Singapore
How to get there: Take the MRT to City Hall MRT Interchange and walk along St Andrew's Road towards the Padang.
