Telekom Museum | An Imposing Neo-Classical Building of Kuala Lumpur
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| The entrance fronting on to Jalan Raja Chulan |
The Muzium Telekom (Telekom Museum) building that stands today was originally built to house the automatic telephone exchange. This imposing Neo-Classical 3-storey building is located at the corner of Jalan Gereja (formerly Church Street) and Jalan Raja Chulan (formerly Weld Road) in Kuala Lumpur.
According to The Straits Times dated 25 January 1929, Kuala Lumpur would be the first district in Malaya to be equipped with automatic telephone exchange.
Automatic telephone exchange means a caller could dial the number directly to make a phone call without going through an operator.
In the same report The Straits Times stated that the actual engineering task of transforming the exchange (from manual to automatic) was no light one. A completely new building and equipment would be necessary and subscribers' lines would have to be transferred to the new exchange, which would be situated on Weld Road (now Jalan Raja Chulan). It should be ready for use by March 1930.
The new exchange situated on Weld Road mentioned in the report was none other than the building that now houses the Telekom Museum.
Meanwhile The Straits Times dated 15 June 1929 reported again "It is stated that an automatic telephone is to be introduced into Malaya. An exchange is to be installed during the next one and a half years in Kuala Lumpur and if the system works satisfactorily in the Malayan climate and the cost is not more than the present manual system its general introduction it is presumed will be only a matter of time."
Two news reports within an interval of 6 months by The Straits Times showed that even up until 15 June 1929 the British Malaya Government had only plan to introduce automatic telephone exchange in Malaya which was to be operated from a building in Kuala Lumpur but the building was nowhere to be seen as yet.
This is opposed to various inaccurate articles which I believe were sourced from Telekom Museum website itself stating that the building was built in 1928. Worse still most of the articles claimed that the building was constructed to accommodate the manual telephone exchange when the chief purpose of constructing this building was to specifically house the automatic telephone exchange!
The Straits Times dated 4 July 1930 reported that the Government Assistant Architect F.A.Mallard A.R.I.B.A. conducted a guided tour for the members of the local branch of the Singapore Society of Architects on 3 July 1930 to show them over the nearly completed building that was to house the Automatic Telephone Exchange in Kuala Lumpur.
F.A. Mallard who was the assistant architect together with his boss the Government architect W.F. Hedges were responsible for designing the Automatic Telephone Exchange building.
During the guided tour conducted by Mallard, the construction of this building was at the completion stage. The peculiar needs of the building, to serve as the automatic telephone exchange, significantly influenced its design as the whole of the front had to be one huge room where the automatic apparatus would be installed. Outside this huge room is where a row of 8 ionic columns decorates its facade. Its main entrance was placed behind the imposing ionic columns.
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| Ionic columns front on to Jalan Gereja |
Another main entrance is located at the other side facing Jalan Raja Chulan. This is of an arched design added with striking iron gates. On either side of the arched entrance, there is a window with likewise arched design at the top.
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| The arch that serves as the entrance and leads the visitor's way to the courtyard. |
In most cases, British colonial architecture in Malaya (now Malaysia) is essentially a hybrid of more than one style of architecture. The buildings may look Classical from one angle but from another angle they may look Gothic or Art Deco or Mughal. Some buildings feature local oriental elements mixed with the European style and while another present strong Islamic style of Mughal and Ottoman architecture style. Most of them were modified to a greater or lesser degree by the use of local building materials and architectural traditions.
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| Ionic columns |
One of the prominent Neo-Classical features of the 3-storey Telekom Museum is its 8 Ionic columns which grace one of two main entrances facing Jalan Gereja, which is the west entrance. The building also consists of a wing at either side of the main hall whereas between two wings there is an open courtyard - features shared among buildings with Palladian architectural style.
Meanwhile its south entrance features semi-circular arched entrance flanked by semi-circular windows on both sides. The semi circular archway at the south entrance is also the entrance to the open courtyard.
Interestingly this Telekom Museum's design bears striking resemblance to The Alexander Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia which was completed in 1796. Perhaps the architects of the Telekom Museum, W.F. Hedges and the assistant architect F.A. Mallard, were inspired by the Alexander Palace when designing the Telekom Museum (originally the Automatic Telephone Exchange of Kuala Lumpur)
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| Alexander Palace (Picture is reproduced from http://www.saint-petersburg.com) |
In early 1980s Jabatan Telekom Malaysia (Malaysian Telecommunication Department then was a government department) was hunting for a new place to house the telecom facilities and its office. In 1984 the Telecom Department identified the site where the former Automatic Telephone Exchange stood as the appropriate site and proposed that the building be torn down and replaced with a new high-rise building for its new office.
In 1985 the then Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, stalled the plan to demolish the stately building and suggested the building be conserved as a national heritage. With the intervention from the Prime Minister, Telekom Malaysia decided to search for other location for its expansion and came up with a proposal to turn the building into a museum with a cost of RM10 million. The construction of the museum took place between 1989 and 992 while the museum material and collections were collected from 1993 to 1994. On 3 June 1994, the museum was officially opened to the public. The Telekom Museum is another example of a successful story of adaptive reuse of a heritage building in Kuala Lumpur after the Central Market.
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| The spiral staircase - a new structure added to the museum gallery to connect between lower floor and upper floor. |
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| Telekom Museum |
If you would like to know more about the Telekom Museum please check out the following websites:
- Malaysia Traveller - Telekom Museum
- What to do at Telekom Museum, Kuala Lumpur - The Star
- Beam loves Muzium Telekom
- Malaysia Telekom Museum
- The history of telecommunication in Malaysia: Hello...Malaya calling - NST
REFERENCES
Automatic telephones. Proposed exchange at Kuala Lumpur. (1929, June 15). The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg
Fronted by one huge room. Architects inspect new phone exchange. (1930, July 4). The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg
Kuala Lumpur's telephones. Automatic exchange planned. (1929, January 25). The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg
Muzium Telekom. Retrieved from http://www.muziumtelekom.com.my
Teh, L.S. (2017, May 21). Hello...Malaya calling. New Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/sunday-vibes/2017/05/241149/hello-malaya-calling
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