MOST HISTORICAL TOWN OF MALAYSIA

Post and Telegraph Office, Station Road
The first Post Office in the FMS, built in 1884, to replace an earlier timber building. The post from Taiping was carried by a relay of runners (dak) and ponies. Current Pos Malaysia website.

The Town Rest House was built in 1894, near the former Taiping Railway Station at Station Road. George Peet who stayed there in 1933 remarked, "It was known as the 'Raja Resthouse' but I could find no rajas in the visitors' book".

FMS Indian Association, Main Road
The founder was Sheikh Nunnemeah. In 1925, his son-in-law, a Ceylonese Muslim named Dr. I. Md. Ghows presented the building to the association for the use of both Muslim and Hindu ethnic Indians.

The Keling Mosque, Kota Road
The Tamil Muslims came to Larut as dealers in textile, grain and the Indian 'long-horn' draught cattle. They settled at Kota, at the southern end of Taiping town. The community built a memorial dedicated to the wali of Nagore, called the 'Mohammedan Hanafi Nagore Mosque'. The timber dargah was used as a mosque by the Tamil Muslim community until the present mosque was built in 1969.

General Hospital, Main Road ( currently Jalan Taming Sari )
Founded in 1880 as Yeng Wah (Chinese Pauper) Hospital by the mining community in the face of the outbreak of beri-beri, it was taken over by the government and relocated to this site in 1881. A large cluster of buildings survives from the 1880s.

Hokkien Association, Kota Road
This association of immigrants from Fujian province in South China was founded in the late Ch'ng dynasty. The site was acquired in 1918 and the building was completed in 1931.

Tengku Menteri's Residence, PWD 41 , Kota Road
Tengku Menteri's Residence,
PWD 41 , Kota Road
The British requisitioned the Tengku Menteri's property, and in exchange, built this house for him in Taiping. It is now the residence of the territorial chief of Larut, Matang and Selama.

Sunlight Muslim Association, 212 Kota Road
The first national conference of Sahabat Pena, a pen-pal club, was held here on 11 November 1934. It was "the first pan-Malayan Malay gathering of a non-official kind ever held." Among those present were Syed Alwi bin Syed Sheikh al-Hadi, S.M. Zainal Abidin and Sheikh Abdullah al-Maghribi, literary figures and Kaum Muda Islamic reformist leaders who were later to become prominent in the Malay nationalist movement.
Peking Hotel, 2 Jalan Idris Built in 1929, it was formerly the rubber dealer's association. During the Japanese Occupation, it was the notorious headquarters of the Kampeitei (Japanese military police).

Coronation Park, Theatre Road

The first amusement park in the FMS opened in the 1920s when Run Run Shaw of Shaw Brothers fame came from Hong Kong with two reels of silent movies to entertain the miners. It was renamed Coronation Park after the coronation of King George V.

Tseng Lung Hakka Association, Market Road
Founded around 1887, the Tseng Lung hui-kuan is the association of people from Tseng ch'eng and Lungmen counties of Kuang-chou prefecture in South China.

Guan Hin Chan, 19 Cross Street No. 4

This well preserved building was the premises of a cigar factory started by a Burmese Chinese, In the 1930s, it employed Burmese women to roll cigars from Moulmein tobacco. During the Japanese Occupation, it was used by the occupying forces to store tin ore.

Shun-te hui-kuan, 36 Kota Road
The association of people from Shunte county, Kuang-chou prefecture, was possibly founded in 1895.

The Kwan-tung hui-kuan, founded in 1887 by Chung Keng Kooi and others, is an association of people from Kuang-tung (Canton) province in South China. The temple was renovated in 1948 and 1954. A pair of old stone lions still grace the forecourt. Sharing the same compound is the Ho hsien-ku Miaou, or temple for Ho, the Immortal Girl. One of the Eight Immortals, Ho is believed to have been a native of Tseng-ch'eng county, Kuang-chou prefecture.

The Residency, Residency Road
The Assistant Resident's House, built in 1884 for over $19,000, was subsequently occupied by the Resident of Perak. Mubin Sheppard later described it as "a cavernous single-storied building, raised on rotund pillars sixteen feet above the ground." What remains are the brick pillars, which decorate the garden of the modern rest house.

Ng Boo Bee Fountain, Waterfall Road
The cast iron fountain, made in the "Penang Foundry", originally stood in the Taiping Market. It was donated by Ng Boo Bee, leader of the Taiping Hokkien community, a prominent tin miner, philanthropist and a member of the Taiping Sanitary Board.

Malay States Guides Barracks, Main Road*
Built in the 1880s, this was the headquarters of the Perak Armed Police, later called the Malay States Guides. Today, it is the most intact, historically important military complex of its kind in Malaysia. The statue of Colonel Walker originally stood above the porch of the Regimental Quarter-Guard House which faces the Esplanade. See "Malay States Guides" overleaf.

Chinese Tombs, Esplanade Road
A Chinese cemetery was originally located on this hillock. Two remaining tombstones, dating from circa 1869 and belonging to members of the Chung lineage of the Hakka ethnic group are still found at the foot of the hill facing the Esplanade.

British Officers' Mess, New Club Road*
The Mess building was of "pleasing design" and "contained expensive silver plates and also souvenirs and relics dating back to the Battle of Waterloo".

The Secretary to Resident's House, Esplanade Road

The house was built in the 1890s, atop a hillock called "Jelutong Hill", from which many of the early photographic views of Taiping town were taken. It is presently the District Officer's residence. The rounded porte cochere is a typical feature of many grand Perak houses.

The New Club and Golf Course, New Club Road
The New Club was founded in 1894 by the leading European community. Of its golf course, the first in the FMS, it was said in 1911, that "Through these gardens, beginning on the glacis of the fort and magazine behind the New Club, run the nine golf links circling between the Residency and the convict establishment."

Fort Carnavon, Main Road* Fort Carnavon, Main Road* The fort was built by the Perak Prison convicts for the use of the Perak Armed Police in 1881, under the supervision of Col. Walker. The brick magazine was completed in 1885 and two years later, a guardroom and gun-shed were erected. The fort was named after the Earl of Carnavon, Secretary of State for the Colonies (1874-1878).