Beach Road acquired its name because it was a coastal road fronting the sea coast during the early settlement of the British colonials. It was one of the early roads developed in Singapore and was illustrated in George Drumgoole Coleman’s 1836 Map of Singapore. Up until the 1870s and 1880s, the sea reached up to Beach Road. At the time, seaside villas stood majestically in the area just like Stamford Raffles envisaged when he laid out his 1822 Town Plan. Raffles had planned for Beach Road to be the home of European merchants. 20 such buildings were built by the year 1825, earning the place the name ji chap keng or “Twenty House Street” in Chinese. One of the houses was bought over by the Sarkies brothers from the house owner W.R. George and was converted into the Raffles Hotel. One by one, the 20 houses each turned into hostels and restaurants to cater to the flow of travellers by the 1880s. Here, the Singapore Cricket Club was born. There used to be a sandy beach in front of Raffles Hotel and the water would come up over on Beach Road at high tide but the land has since been reclaimed. Land reclamation first began alongside Beach Road in 1843 to build the Alhambra and Marlborough Cinemas, a police station, the Singapore Volunteer Corps Headquarters and Drill Hall. In the 1880s, more land was reclaimed, costing Beach Road its original beach frontage entirely. Nicoll Highway, Marina Square and Suntec City were built over the years on the reclaimed land, pushing Beach Road even further inland. There are a number of landmarks in Beach Road including the Golden Mile Complex and Golden Mile Tower, Golden Mile Food Centre, Masjid Hajjah Fatimah, Saint John Headquarters, The Concourse, Parkroyal on Beach Road, Raffles Hotel, Fairmont Singapore, Civilian War Memorial and War Memorial Park, The Gateway and others.