On a KL heritage walk

After a three-hour night tour in the heart of the city, Loong Wai Ting learns its history from the early 1860s to 1957

IT’S midnight but the clock, designed to echo the Big Ben in Westminster, London, atop the tower of Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad doesn’t chime as expected. Fortunately, we don’t really expect it to for our attention is not on this iconic clock.

Like a commando leading his troop to battle, KL Heritage Walk tour guide Azry gathers us and says: “Tonight, we will walk along the city’s quiet streets to marvel at the architecture and learn about its historical past. It’s going to be a fun-filled night.”

With him is Mariana Isa, a heritage enthusiast, conservationist and independent researcher of Malaysian and Southeast Asian history who will fill us in with anecdotes seldom found in books.

Azry diverts our attention to the IndoSarascenic design of Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad. Its red bricks and copper domes are probably the most photographed in the city.

The red bricks were made and fired at kilns in Brickfields (hence the name). Although the kilns no longer exist, nevertheless, they have left their mark on various buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

In British colonial days, the Mogulinspired building was known as Government Offices where administration work took place.

The original administration area was on Bluff Road (now Bukit Aman), which overlooked the grassy field of Dataran Merdeka. Due to limited space, it was proposed to relocate the Government Offices to lower ground.

The man in charge was British engineer Charles Edwin Spooner who oversaw many important buildings in Kuala Lumpur during its heyday. Among them is Kuala Lumpur Railway Station on Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin.

Just steps away from the intricately designed 19th century Mughal arches of Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad is the glass-and-concrete bridge that provides a 360-view of the surrounding heritage buildings. As it is midnight, we decide to skip the bridge and head over to Masjid Jamek.