Sultan Abdul Samad Building

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Seizing attention with its 41m clock tower, coppery domes and lacy arches, this was the first public building in Malaysia designed in the Mogul (or Indo-Saracenic) style. It looks particularly impressive when illuminated after dark. Originally conceived by renowned colonial architect AC Norman, multiple designers contributed to the building's final flamboyant form, which was completed in 1897. Formerly the secretariat for the colonial administration, it is now empty and has fallen into disrepair, making its future unsure.

Facing from Merdeka Sq, to the right of the building is the old General Post Office.

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Nearby attractions

1. Victorian Fountain

0.06 MILES

This fountain dating from 1904 is said to have been built in memory of an inspector of the Selangor Military; at one time horses would have lapped water…

2. Merdeka Square

0.07 MILES

The huge open square, where Malaysian independence was declared in 1957, is speared by a 95m flagpole, one of the world's tallest. In the British era, the…

3. Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad

0.08 MILES

This graceful, onion-domed mosque, designed by British architect AB Hubback, borrows Mogul and Moorish styles with its brick-and-plaster banded minarets…

4. National Textiles Museum

0.11 MILES

This excellent themed museum occupies an elegant Mogul-style building originally constructed for the railway works department. The lower floors cover the…

5. Former Standard Charter Bank

0.11 MILES

One of the most handsome pieces of architecture around Merdeka Sq, this was the Standard Charter Bank when first built in 1891. It's currently closed.

6. Royal Selangor Club

0.12 MILES

Founded in 1884, this exclusive members-only social club is where the running-and-drinking club, the Hash House Harriers, kicked off in 1938. The present…

7. KL City Gallery

0.12 MILES

The former Government Printing Office of the British Malaya Administration was designed by AC Norman and J Russell and built 1898. It now houses a small…

8. St Mary’s Anglican Cathedral

0.13 MILES

This handsome Gothic Revival English country church was designed by government architect AC Norman and erected in 1894 on the site of an earlier wooden…