The station serves various landmarks including The Fullerton Hotel, Merlion Park and the Asian Civilisations Museum and various commercial buildings such as One Raffles Place and OCBC Centre.

Construction of the tunnels between the City Hall and Raffles Place stations required the draining of the Singapore River.

Like the adjacent City Hall station, cross-platform transfers between the NSL and EWL began on 28 October 1989, ahead of the split of the MRT network into two lines on 4 November.

Three artworks are displayed at the station: two murals by Lim Sew Yong and Thang Kiang How depict scenes of Singapore's history, while Aw Tee Hong's sculpture draws inspiration from Chinese junks.

This required coordination between various subcontractors while overcoming space constraints at the site as the station was built right in the city centre.

With the high-rise buildings in the area, it was difficult to determine suitable locations for the installation of temporary ground support systems (including the piles and working deck).

[23] During the station's excavation, the boulders were broken apart through treatment with a cracking agent, hydraulic rock splitters or giant breakers.

[24] In conjunction with the station's opening, private developers constructed newer buildings that re-established Raffles Place area as a financial hub.

The presence of the MRT station near these buildings also created additional convenience for corporations and banks operating in the area.

[26][27] Another contract for the construction of 2.3-kilometre (1.4-mile) tunnels between the Maxwell (now Tanjong Pagar) and Raffles Place stations was awarded to a joint Japanese consortium including Taisei, Shimizu, and Marubeni in December that year.

[30] The construction of tunnels between the City Hall and Raffles Place stations required the draining of the Singapore River.

[32] The cofferdam in the first stage occupied about 20 metres (66 ft) of the river width from the riverbank at the Immigration Building site of the Empress Place.

[41][42][43] Like the adjacent City Hall station, Raffles Place has two platform levels to facilitate its role as an interchange between the NSL and EWL.

[12] In addition to advertisement campaigns and guides about the transfers, Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC) staff were deployed at the platforms to help commuters.

As a CD shelter, the station has to be structurally reinforced against bomb attacks with layers of earth-backed, air-backed and airtight walls and slabs.

[51][52] The sculpture takes inspiration from the Chinese junks and the perahu, linked to people's livelihoods of Singapore's past.

The artist felt the ships best reflected Singapore's pioneering spirit through the hardship the early immigrants faced and decided to incorporate the shapes into the work.