1930
Sule Pagoda Road, Rangoon c. 1930
At the end of the street is the Imperial Bank of India (which had the Swedish consulate and Burma Match offices on the ground floor in the 1950s), and next to it on the right the beautiful old General Post Office. On Merchant Street across from the GPO was the headquarters of the Burmah Oil Company building (later-Ideal Nursing Home and MOGE). In the 1930s Burmah Oil was one of the largest companies in the world. At the top of the street was the Burmese-owned and Australian-designed Favourite Department Store, which competed with Rowe & Co. across the park, Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co. (on Phayre Street, now Pansodan), and Watson's (also on Phayre). The building in the 1920s and '30s housed the famous Dagon magazine. The trees around the Sule Pagoda are largely gone, and Centre Point has severely damaged what was one of the nicest skylines in the region. But much of the unique urban landscape for about a square mile around is still intact, and could again become one of the top destinations in southeast Asia.