Was HDR necessary here?

[savishy.pv]

I went to Pittsburgh recently and (after many attempts to keep my camera still against the wind at Mount Washington) managed to get this shot. I did 3 exposures and combined them into an HDR in Photomatix, and am really pleased with it, despite some nagging issues (like the horribly over saturated blue pinnacle to the left).

But my primary question is something a friend of mine asked me:
* Is an HDR image really necessary to get this image? (or is the dynamic range in this image similar to a regular image?)
* what would I have had to do to get a similar effect without HDR?

details:
canon eos rebel t3, 49mm, F5.6, ISO400,1 s
full exif: Exif | City of steel | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[digirebelva]

compare it to your normal expsoure shot...that should give you the answer