Time Frame: Abu Dhabi Corniche ablaze with light
September 9, 2012
Overshadowed by the tower of the Baynunah Hilton is a more modest construction of concrete and glass that is home to some government offices and the Corniche branch of the Union National Bank. When it was built in the late 1970s, the building, reported to be the first in the capital to be faced in glass, dominated the Abu Dhabi shoreline.
This image, taken from the archives of Al Ittihad newspaper, shows the tower ablaze with light, as the curve of the Corniche stretches behind into the distance.
In the 1980s, the building was used by the BCC-Emirates bank, a local subsidiary of the ill-fated Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), which was succeeded by the Union National Bank in 1992.
The photograph also reveals that the tower once stood considerably closer to the water, with subsequent land reclamation extending the Corniche by many metres.
* James Langton
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