General Post Office, Kuala Lumpur (1907)
Kuala lumpur’s 3rd Post Office centre since 1893 at the junction of Jalan Raja and Market Street.
Hubback’s Official Post/Role: Federal P.W.D Assistant Architect
Year Designed: 1902
Year Completed: 1907
Construction Cost: $100,000 straits Dollars
Contractor: Contract awarded to Towkay Choo Teck Lim who unfortunately was not able to deliver the building. Construction was taken over by Singaporean Contractor Messrs. Walter Pallister in August 1904. Palliser was also the contractor of the Hotel de l’Europe and the Kallang Tunnel, in Singapore.
Brief Architectural Description: The only eclectic Mughal-style building in Kuala Lumpur that was without domes. Featuring a rooftop leaf design flat decorative Pediments, Chatri pinnacles and polygonal corner stair towers.
History: Ceased postal services when operations were relocated to the present General Post Office building (Pejabat Pos Besar Kuala Lumpur) at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock in 1985.
Original Use: Government Administration (Post Office)
Original Building Type: Office
Current Name: Old General Post Office
Current Use: Government Office
Current Building Use: Office
Gazetted as Malaysia's National Heritage in 2007
Gazetted Name: Bangunan Pejabat Pos Besar (GPO)
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Letter to the Secretary to the Resident of Selangor, 5 September 1901
Original document retrieved from Arkib Negara Malaysia (19570099120)
Sir,
I have the honor to request that provision may be made in the 1902 Annual Estimates for a New Post Office.
2. My reasons for making this request are that the Public and the Post & Telegraph Clerks suffer much inconvenience from lack of space.
3. The Counter and the hall of the Post Office should be at lest twice as big as those provided in this building.
4. The Telegraph instrument room is too small for present requirements.
5. The Savings Bank, Asst: Superintendent's & the Accountant's Office are in the same small room the size of which is 22'.9" x 18'.8".
6. My own Office, the sorting room and the Chief Clerk's Office afford the very best of accommodation but I take it that this would not be wasted if the Post and Telegraph Department moved into other quarters.
7. A site could I think be found for a New Post Office between the Chartered Bank and the Railway line-where the Postmaster's and Telegraph Master's Quarters now stand.
I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant,
A. Baxendale, Superintendent P&T
**At this point of time, the P&T office was located in the Secretariat Office Building (Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad).
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