Selangor Museum 1906, Kuala Lumpur
An edifice to display the Malay States’ Ethnological and Zoological collection, on a hillock at the junction of Garden Road and Damansara Road. Land initially accommodated old wooden quarters and the house of Mr. Parson. Built to replace the museum in the old Istana in Bukit Nanas.
Hubback's Official Post/Role: Federal P.W.D Assistant Architect
Year Designed: 1902
Contract Let Out: March 1904
Year Completed: 1906
Work was completed departmentally as the contractor lost heavily and had to throw up his contract.
Construction Cost (Estimate): $50,000 Straits Dollars.
Architectural Style: Queen Anne Revival
Brief Architectural Description: A ‘V’-shaped plan, with two long galleries of 100ft x 28 ft and a 45ft x 40ft central hall to house administrative offices and reserve collection, complete with workshops and photographic dark rooms. Layout based on initial design layout by Mr. Kratz and also museums in Colombo, Ceylon and Perak, F.M.S. Entry through an arch frame, on both sides flanked by two-storey tower topped by four sided domes and a spire. A Flemish gable with tripartite pediment and pyramidal tiled roof topped with a spire.
Original Use: Museum
Original Building Use: Public Building
Building no longer exist.
Alteration History: Building was extended and renovated in 1914, altering the design of its roof and tower domes rather extensively.
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Annual report Federated Malay States Selangor 1901
Museum.
Plans have been drawn up on the lines of the Colombo Museum, and the building will be completed this year, a fine site having been secured near the entrance to the Public Gardens.
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Journal of the Federated Malay States Museum, Report on the Museums Department for the year 1905, p26
Selangor State Museum.
“8. The new Museum was not finished by the end of the year, but the case-building had progressed in a satisfactory manner and the woodwork for the wall cases of two long exhibition rooms was practically ready for erection by December. The amount expanded for case-building and furniture was $2,472.66. This included the cost of a safe, the construction of a trap-door hoisting tackle to enable the furniture, etc., to be raised to the upper floor, a supply of glass-topped boxes for storing skin collection and cabinets to hold them, as well as some almeirahs (almari) and office furniture.”
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Journal of the Federated Malay States Museum, Report on the Museums Department for the year 1906, p86
Selangor State Museum.
“10. The new Museum building was handed over by the Public Works Department during the year, and by the end of it the greater part of the case building was finished. A portion of the painting, glazing and fitting remained to be done, and some of the cases in the central hall were not completed. The sum of $7,378.56 was expended on cases, and the general effect of the galleries, considering the low cost of construction, is by no means bad.”
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Make it $50,000 and plans for a building in the style of the Taiping Museum with the same façade. It can be added to when required and the design should be made with that effect. Nothing to be spent till plans approved.
HCB
(Henry Conway Belfield)
