Architecture, Kuala Lumpur

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A half day city tours orientates one nicely in this city.
We were taken to the King's palace where we saw the Royal Guard; the Museum; to view the Petronas Towers and of course the inevitable Handycraft Centre.

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The Dayabumi Complex is one of the major landmarks of Kuala Lumpur and was built on land that was previously the site of the Malayan Railway workshops and depots from the 1900s until 1981. Construction began in January 1982 and was completed in February 1984. The Dayabumi Complex is one of the first buildings to boast a Malaysian style of architecture. The 35-storey skyscraper is 157 meters high. At the time of its completion, it was regarded as the most expensive building ever built in Malaysia. The gleaming white marble structure incorporates Arabic elements into the modern high-rise architecture, helping it to blend with the surrounding Moorish and Byzantine architecture. Today it houses government offices, a shopping arcade and has an annex that houses the General Post Office.

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Also known as the KTM Headquarters, this huge building lies across the road from the superb Old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. It's one of the last of the many Mughal-style buildings erected in Kuala Lumpur that were designed by A, when it was completed in 1917. The ground floor is adorned with 97 large frontal Gothic arches and 4 smaller arches whilst 5 large domes sit on top of the building.

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Kuala Lumpur's Old Railway Station is a magnificent piece of architecture, and the icon of Kuala Lumpur for decades before the Petronas Twin Towers come into the picture. It was designed by Arthur Benison Hubbock (AB Hubbock), the same government architect who designed most of the distinctive buildings of Mughal architecture in Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur's Masjid Jamek, Old City Hall, Old High Court, Selangor Railway Office building (presently Textile Museum), Ipoh's railway station, and Kuala Kangsar's Ubudiah Mosque.

Completed in 1910 to replace an older station on the same site, the station was Kuala Lumpur's railway hub in the city for the Federated Malay States Railway and Malayan Railway before Kuala Lumpur Sentral assumed much of its role in 2001, so not many trains actually stop here anymore. It underwent refurbishment in 1986 with additional new facilities and buildings, including air-conditioned waiting halls, tourism information counters, snack bars and more.

Built in 1920 and located in Little India, this cinema is the oldest and continuously running cinema hall in the country (save for a break during the Japanese occupation during World War II), with most of the movies premiering being those Tamil films. Just next door is the Coliseum Cafe where steaks are served in the old English style by old anglophile waiters.

The Old High Court, which today houses the Sessions and Magistrates Court, is another heritage building which was designed by architect AB Hubbock. After years of debating whether the Kuala Lumpur Supreme Court needed a new building, and where it ought to be, this 2-storey High Court was finally constructed in 1912, and completed in 1915. A distinctive feature of the High Court building are the towers topped with a cupola with decorative buttresses around the base. Linking these towers are passageways with two different types of arches, horseshoe and painted horseshoe. The towers were originally dining chambers with private Tiffin rooms.

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Dominating the eastern side of Merdeka Square, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building is the centrepiece of colonial architecture in Kuala Lumpur. Formerly known simply as Government Offices, construction began in 1894 and the building was completed in 1897. Constructed entirely of bricks, the building has a front façade which is 450 ft (137.2m) in length, and an imposing porch in the centre. The porch holds three horseshoe arches and the piers supporting them are 4 ft thick. The 135 ft (41.2m) central tower holds a clock that first tolled during Queen Victoria's birthday parade in 1897. The tower is topped by a copper dome that is in turn topped by a copper chatri. The structure takes its name from Sultan Abdul Samad, the reigning sultan of Selangor at the time when construction began and today houses the Supreme Court.

Known as the Panggung Bandaraya, this fine colonial brick building was built in 1896 and completed in 1904. The building originally housed the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and includes an auditorium and municipal offices, each with its own separate entrance. The Sanitary Board, which has authority similar to a town council, also had its office here.

AB Hubbock, who is responsible for designing most of the heritage buildings in Kuala Lumpur (and several other towns in Malaysia), was the government architect who designed it. Architecturally, it carries through the Mughal style that you can find in the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Hubbock embellished the Old City Hall with different versions of Islamic arches and chatris on the roofline. Today the Old City Hall is still used to house various courts of the judicial system.