Once housing British rulers, heritage buildings in KL draw crowds as living history lessons

KUALA LUMPUR – Half an hour after the Sultan Abdul Samad Building opposite Independence Square opened at 9am on a recent week­end, visitors were already filming TikTok clips beneath its scalloped arches and queueing outside its cafes.

For the first time in years, the public could walk through the 19th century building – which once housed colonial administration offices and later Malaysia’s courts – not for hearings, but to explore.

Storyboard artist Muhammad Sina Rosle, 21, who moved to Kuala Lumpur from Perak three months ago, admitted he knew nothing about the building before visiting it on Feb 14.

“This place is so cool,” he told The Straits Times before joining a sketchwalk, where participants draw or paint in groups as they walk through a location. “We should preserve places like this.”

Weeks earlier, the Seri Negara mansion in central KL – where Malaya’s Independence Agreement was signed in 1957 – also reopened after a decade.

Together, the projects signal a shift: Colonial-era buildings are being reborn as public spaces and cultural anchors.

The restored mansion has quickly re-entered Malaysia’s political life. On Feb 20, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hosted Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong for an iftar dinner at Seri Negara during the latter’s special visit to Malaysia.

Datuk Seri Anwar described the meeting as especially meaningful, given that the century-old mansion had borne witness to key mile­stones in Malayan history – including the 1948 Federation of Malaya Agreement and the 1957 Independence Agreement.

He said the two leaders were “continuing to write history” in the same setting while strengthening bilateral ties.

The revival of colonial-era buildings that had long stood disused is part of Warisan KL, a collaboration with government agencies, government-linked companies and corporate partners spearheaded by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional to rejuvenate the capital’s historical core for Visit Malaysia Year 2026.

Malaysia aims to welcome 47 million tourists. Warisan KL hopes to bring heritage sites back to life through community programmes and creating more walkable spaces.

Khazanah's contribution to Warisan KL, at RM600 million, includes the restoration of eight sites, including Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Seri Negara and its sister residence, Carcosa. A pedestrian bridge linking the latter two to the Perdana Botanical Gardens is slated for completion by the year’s end.

The conservation effort, Mr Anwar wrote on Facebook on Jan 31, aims “to bring history to life as guidance in shaping the nation’s future”.

“National heritage should not be seen as a burden of the past, but as a strategic asset capable of generating the economy, driving tourism, and strengthening the cultural ecosystem and creative industry.

“A developed nation is not built solely on economic strength, but with soul, values and an appreciation of its historical roots,” said Mr Anwar.

Shift from symbol of colonial power

Completed in 1897, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building’s Moorish arches and domes once projected colonial authority. But its symbolism changed on Aug 31, 1957, when the Union Jack was lowered and the Malayan flag raised in the square opposite – now Dataran Merdeka.

It housed Malaysia’s courts until 2007 and witnessed turbulent events in the nation’s modern history, including the 1998 sodomy and corruption trial of Mr Anwar, then deputy prime minister.

Today, it houses cafes, a nonya kebaya boutique and galleries tracing Kuala Lumpur’s evolution from its tin-mining origins to its post-independence transformation.

Perched on a leafy hill, Seri Negara reopened on Dec 15, 2025, after 10 months of refurbishment. Completed in 1913, it once housed British rulers before becoming a luxury hotel that welcomed Queen Elizabeth II during the 1989 Commonwealth summit.

It closed in 2015 and opened briefly for the 2025 ASEAN summit in October before reopening permanently in December. Many would recognise it as one of the opulent settings in the 2018 box-office film hit Crazy Rich Asians.

At the Warisan KL launch, Mr Anwar recalled that as UMNO Youth chief in the 1980s, he pushed for Britain to return Carcosa Seri Negara to Malaysia. This was achieved in 1987.

“Restoring a heritage building is never just about bricks or mortar,” Khazanah managing director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir told ST.

“It’s about uncovering its history and allowing those stories to inspire generations.”

Conservation teams met stringent Category 1 heritage standards, using authentic materials and traditional techniques, while upgrading safety and accessibility. When work began, Seri Negara was in disrepair with widespread damage.

“The approach was to preserve its authentic architectural character and reinstate its original beauty while introducing only the upgrades needed to support safe public use,” said Datuk Amirul.

During guided tours in Seri Negara, guests can explore the Morning Room where British administrators once had tea, and a verandah overlooking the city. A short film retells the building’s role in British rule, the Japanese Occupation and constitutional negotiations.

Mr Afifi Sulaiman, 21, an international relations student, said standing in the room where the independence agreement was signed was the highlight of his tour.

“These places educate people about what happened before us,” he told ST on Jan 7.

Meanwhile, French tourist Juliette Goblet, 30, said: “Malaysia should have more museums like this. A lot of tourists come for the landscape, but you also need to discover the history to understand a place.”

Carcosa, next to Seri Negara, is being converted into an eco-sanctuary hotel. Khazanah sees heritage conservation as a catalyst, citing its privately commissioned studies showing that tourism can generate more than twice the economic activity through local supply chains.

The push has been more than 10 years in development.

Dr Shuhana Shamsuddin, who led the Kuala Lumpur Heritage Trail Master Plan in 2015-2016, noted that earlier restoration efforts were fragmented and underfunded. The RM600 million allocation marks an unprecedented commitment.

“We studied Singapore and Melbourne, and one thing they had in common was a clear narrative,” she told ST, explaining how the two cities incorporate heritage sites into their urban planning to create a strong sense of place and identity.

Dr Shuhana, a former urban design professor and founder and president of the Malaysian Urban Design Association, also highlighted how heritage trails in both Singapore and Melbourne trace the cities’ growth over time.

“The new and the old are in harmony with each other and in keeping with its context,” she said.

“Each heritage trail tells a story, rather than just marking buildings. That’s what we wanted for KL.”

She acknowledged cost concerns but argued that delaying conservation drives up expenses and risks losing buildings entirely. “If you wait too long, sometimes you lose the building. Then you lose that piece of memory so crucial to Kuala Lumpur’s identity,” she said.

Renewed awareness of heritage

Colonial-era architecture carries contested symbolism, but the strong public turnout suggests Malaysians are reclaiming their architectural heritage.

Dr Suffian Mansor, head of the history programme at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, explained that while built during British rule, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building blends Moorish and Indo-Saracenic elements, or Islamic and Indian architecture.

“It should not be seen solely as colonial trauma but as part of Malaysia’s historical layers,” he said.

An example of this was the film shown in Seri Negara which gave the house a voice. It recalled the moment 15 signatures sealed Malaya’s independence, while the narration was unapologetically anti-colonial, declaring that the British “took what they wanted”.

“Look at that view now – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the nation we built. This is what our tears paid for. These are my stories.

“Independence wasn’t given. It was built by people who believed in something better,” the film declared, recasting the former colonial mansion not as a relic of an empire, but as a witness to its undoing.

Younger visitors also approach the building less as a political symbol and more as an urban icon and photography spot, Dr Suffian noted.

“It’s important to restore these buildings as they serve as a living history lesson, letting today’s generation see and feel the colonial era firsthand.”

Such conservation generates economic value by boosting tourism and promoting sustainability. Rather than being demolished or left to decay, historical buildings can be revitalised as cultural attractions or commercial spaces, he added.

For architect Ahmad Hakym Ahmad Hilmy, founder of KL Sketch Nation, which organised the sketchwalk, heritage only becomes meaningful through use.

“An icon of a city has to matter to its own people first,” he told ST. “If locals don’t feel belonging, it becomes just another backdrop – impressive, but meaningless.”

Dr Hakym’s doctoral research focused on cultivating urban belonging through sketching.

“Meaning comes from interaction and memories you create with a place,” he said. “When you sit down and sketch a building for an hour or two, you begin to form an attachment.”

Activities like sketchwalks, photography sessions and community gatherings transform historical structures from static monuments into lived spaces.

For years, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building was admired from outside, mostly by tourists. Now locals are walking along its corridors and lingering in its galleries. The queues show no sign of slowing, with entry free for now.

In an era when travel inspiration spreads through social feeds, Kuala Lumpur’s old heart has found new visibility. History, it turns out, still draws a crowd.

Clarification note: This story has been updated for clarity.