Heritage Building of Kuala Lumpur – City Theatre

Panggung Bandaraya (Malay for City Theatre)

Panggung Bandaraya DBKL (Malay for DBKL City Theatre) is a historical theatre hall located located across the Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the junction of Jalan Tun Perak and Jalan Raja. It was built in 1896 and was completely finished in 1904.

The theatre formerly occupied the historical building of the Old City Hall of Kuala Lumpur. The theatre and old City Hall building was designed by a colonial-government architect, A.B. Hubback, who was also responsible for designing the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, the Jamek Mosque and other colonial structures throughout the Klang Valley.

It was built for production stages such as plays and musicals. Panggung Bandaraya is gazetted as a heritage building under the Antiquities Act and its Mughal architectural-styled façade has been preserved. A major fire in 1992 destroyed the entire interior of the theatre but City Hall’s designers and builders restored it soon after. The refurbishment that was undertaken has incorporated significant modifications to the furnishing and the sound system, which was updated.

The side view of the City Theatre (Panggung Bandaraya) while in the foreground is the Old High Court Building. Both feature rich Mughal architectural style thanks to A.B. Hubback who designed both of the elegant buildings

The City Theatre in the frame

The City Theatre entrance

Its facade which bears rich Mughal architectural style

My hot air balloon picture in Fah Thai magazine

I am delighted to share this news with you. One of my hot air balloon pictures made it to Fah Thai magazine in its March/April 2012 issue  printed on double spread. Fah Thai is the bimonthly in-flight magazine of Bangkok Airways. This is a screenshot of its online version which you can access here.

My hot air balloon picture on double spread of Fah Thai

Credit byline

Credit byline was also given to the text writer and the photographer.

The physical magazine can be obtained when you fly Bangkok Airways of course.

Fah Thai is published by Ink Singapore.

And below is the cover of Fah Thai March/April 2012 issue.

Fah Thai March/April 2012 cover

Last but not least, I wish to thank Ink Singapore photo editor, Rita Chee, for choosing and buying my picture to appear in Fah Thai.

I look forward to working with Ink again in future.

Heritage Building of Kuala Lumpur – the Old High Court Building

The Old High Court Building with its distinctive Mughal architectural style

On the other side of the Sungai Gombak (Gombak River) from the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, there is another colonial heritage building which is likely to be ignored by ordinary city folks. This  classic edifice was designed by none other than A.B. Hubback, the British architect who was instrumental in designing many buildings with Mughal architectural style in Kuala Lumpur and other major cities in Malaysia.

A distinctive feature of the Old High Court building is the towers topped with a cupola with decorative buttresses around the base. Linking these towers are passageways or verandahs with two different types of arches – keyhole arches and ogee arches – another typical traits of Mughal architecture. The towers were origanally dining chambers with private tiffin rooms. This Old High Court Building started to be constructed in 1912 and completed in 1915.

The keyhole arches on the first floor of the verandah and ogee arches on the ground floor

The building first housed the Kuala Lumpur High Court as its name reflects and the Supreme Court but later after the High Court and Supreme Court were at that time moved to the bigger building which was the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, this beautiful building then was occupied by the Sessions and Magistrates Court yet it is still referred to as the High Court Building until now.

Nowadays I noticed that it is occupied by part of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture office.

The Old High Court Building in a frame

The ogee arch and door with strong Mughal architectural influence at closer look.

The Old High Court Building is located on the bank of Gombak River

Heritage Building of Kuala Lumpur – the National Textile Museum

National Textile Museum

This handsome building is less famous than its neighbour, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building but it looks equally majestic.  This is another creation of the prolific British architect, A.B. Hubback. This elegant building was built in 1896 originally to house the Federated Malay States Railway Service headquarters. It was later used by various government department before being refurbished to aptly house The National Textile Museum in 2007.

This heritage building wears the distinctive red and white banding resulting from alternating fairfaced bricks with plastered ones, a style also seen in other buildings designed by AB Hubback. The façade featuring ogee arches and horse-shoe arches continues the Islamic and Moghul style of the adjacent government buildings such as the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and the old General Post Office.

The main entrance of the Textile Museum comprises two pilasters topped by chatris – the raised onion-shaped domes derived from Moghul architecture of India. On each corner of the building are octagonal towers topped by a concrete dome surrounded by smaller ones.

This textile museum is open from 9.00am to 6.00pm daily. In this museum, you can learn the art of batik making and weaving using indigenous materials such as kain gerus, pua, songket and telepuk. The exhibits display samples of textiles of historical value and current fashions and designs.

National Textile Museum against the modern skyscraper, The Dayabumi tower at the background.

Its typical Moghul-styled dome is bathed in the warm late evening light

Rows of ogee arches and horse-shoe arches on its facade

The National Textile Museum with its neighbouring buildings - classic and modern ones.

Heritage Building of Kuala Lumpur – The Old General Post Office

Sitting next to The Sultan Abdul Samad Building is less known The Old General Post Ofice Building.  The building is less known because people generally thought that it was part of The Sultan Abdul Samad Building but it is actually not!

The Old General Post Office was designed by architect AC Norman in 1896, constructed in 1904, but due to the contractor facing financial difficulties, the building was only completed in 1907. An arch walkway connects it to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building down the road. This walkway was only added later, after the building was completed. The style of both buildings are so similar perhaps because it was designed by the same architect A.C. Norman. Some said that The Old General Post Office builing was designed by A.B. Hubback. However I strongly believe it was A.C. Norman who designed it since it is very similar to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and it is also located close to The Sultan Abdul Samad Building although the Old Post Office building was completed a little later.

The Old General Post Office Building has wide arcaded verandahs of ogee arches, a style repeated in other heritage buildings in the vicinity. The central leaf design pediment is framed by pinnacles. On both ends of the building are multi-sided towers housing the staircases. Its architectural style was also obviously inspired by Moghul architecture but its design was adapted to the local weather condition of Malaysia which is hot and humid.

The Kuala Lumpur General Post Office is housed here until 1984, when it moved to the present General Post Office building at the Dayabumi Complex. Today the building houses part of the Ministry of Information Communication & Culture office.

the Old General Post Office

Key-hole arches and ogee arches - the prominent features of this building

The Old General Post Office against the modern skyscrapers

Inside - the verandah

Inside - the verandah

One of the windows at the Old General Post Office

 

Heritage Building of Kuala Lumpur – The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

Kuala Lumpur is considered a young city having started to develop circa 1850s when the Malay Chief of Klang, Raja Abdullah, hired some Chinese labourers to open new and larger tin mines for tin prospectors. The miners landed at the confluence of Sungai Gombak (previously known as Sungai Lumpur, meaning “muddy river”) and Sungai Klang (Klang River) to open mines at Ampang, Pudu and Batu. These mines developed into a trading post which became a frontier town. Since then it attracted various people who mostly comprised labourers, prospectors and traders.

By 1896, Kuala Lumpur was chosen as the capital of the newly formed Federated Malay States. A mixture of different communities settled in various sections of Kuala Lumpur. The Chinese mainly settled around the commercial centre of Market Square, east of the Klang River, and towards Chinatown. The Malays, Indian Chettiars, and Indian Muslims resided along Java Street (now Jalan Tun Perak). The Padang, now known as Merdeka Square, was the centre of the British administrative offices around which you can find most of the heritage buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

The most prominent heritage building in Kuala Lumpur located opposite Merdeka Square (formerly known as the Selangor Club Padang or referred to as the Padang) is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building was the best known symbol of Malaysia until the Petronas Towers were built and still today one of the most photographed buildings in Malaysia. Built between 1894 and 1897, it was designed by A.C. Norman and R.A.J. Bidwell in Moghul architectural style inspired by Moghul Architecture in India.  A prominent feature of the building is the red bricks with the white plaster lined arches gaining the “Blood and Bandages Building” title and when you look from above the building  design has an F-shaped form. Whereas its verandahs make use of many forms of arches and the most significant ones are key hole arches, ogee arches, pointed arches and horse-shoe arches which can easily be seen throughout the building.

The building also features a 40m high clock tower which is flanked by two lower towers both of which, like the clock tower, are topped with onion-shaped copper domes. The building was completed in 1896 and its clock chimed for the first time in 1897 to coincide with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee parade.

The building was named after the then Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Abdul Samad and the British government first used it as the Federated Malay States administrative office. It later served as a High Court and Supreme Court. Today, like its neighbouring buildings, it is occupied by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture. While the architectural style is not particularly Malaysian and would look more at home in India, it has come to symbolize Malaysia and has played an important role in the country’s history.

Although the British Colonial Masters have long gone more than 54 years ago from Malaya (the old name of Malaysia) the structure and the buildings still remain for many years to come as part of the history as well as the living proof for the newer generations to see, learn and study.

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building is located opposite the Merdeka Square

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building

Please feel free to view more photos of The Sultan Abdul Samad Building in my zenfolio gallery.