Kuala Lumpur Colonial History Walk - Private Guided Tour

The Klang River, about 120 km long, is Selangor's longest river and Malaysia's 8th longest. Rising near the Klang Gates Quartz Ridge in the Titiwangsa range, it flows through Kuala Lumpur before reaching the Straits of Malacca at Klang. Kuala Lumpur's origins are tied to the river: in 1857 Raja...

The venerable Old Market Square is distinguished by an elegant clock tower erected in 1937 to mark the coronation of His Majesty King George VI. Conceived by Arthur Oakley Coltman in the fashionable Art Deco style, its geometric features-sunbursts and vertical embellishments-speak of both modernity and optimism, a beacon in...

The Jamek Mosque is serendipitously positioned at the birthplace of this vibrant city - the confluence of the muddy rivers Klang and Gombak. It is this geographical feature from which the city draws its name ('kuala' being 'confluence' or 'estuary' in Malay, and 'lumpur' meaning 'mud'). This is the oldest...

Flanked by the former General Post Office, Magistrate Courts and Kuala Lumpur Council Building, this government office complex was constructed in 1894 for the British colonial administration at a cost of 152,000 Straits dollars, the Government Offices were opened by Sir Frank Swettenham on 4 April 1897. Renamed the Federal...

The dignified Anglican Church of St Mary the Virgin was originally a timber edifice of modest ambition atop the nearby Bukit Aman hill in 1887. It was replaced by the present brick structure in 1895. This sanctuary, built near the Parade Ground of the Selangor Club, was the first such...

Founded in 1884, the Selangor Club served as a meeting place for educated and high-ranking members of British colonial society.

While most early members were British, admission was based more on education and status than race. Its first attap-roof building near the padang was replaced in 1890 by a two-storey...

Located in the grounds of the Kuala Lumpur Public Library is the former Government Printing Office.

Completed in 1899, this beautiful building was where the Government reports, official government books, notifications and even train tickets were printed. News from back home in England was also printed here apart from the...

Completed in 1909 on the south side of Independence Square, this building housed the main branch of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China-later Standard Chartered. Founded in London in 1853, the bank was the first to open in Kuala Lumpur, beginning in 1888 above shop houses on Market...

Situated on the corner of the Selangor Club Padang, the fountain was shipped from Britain and sent to Malaya to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897. Ironically, it was not assembled on site until 1904, by which time the Queen had already died. The delay might have been because...

The first headquarters of the Federated Malay States Railways (FMSR), this building marked the shift from fragmented state railways to a unified system. Malaya's first line opened in 1885 from Taiping to Port Weld, with Kuala Lumpur gaining service in 1886. Its first station stood near Lebuh Pasar, across from...

First conceived by the redoubtable Kapitan Yap Ah Loy as a humble wet market in 1888, and it was then transformed into a splendid hall of commerce. The original structure then gave way to a much grander construction of 1937, under the hand of one TY Lee, an engineer of...