Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A. B. Hubback - Handwritten Submission to R.I.B.A.,

I am pleasantly surprised that there seems to be some interest in what buildings were designed by A.B. Hubback in Malaysia. In response to one of our readers, En. Omar Ibrahim, I am now posting A.B. Hubbacks handwritten submission to the Royal Institute of British Architects. Be warned! Some of the information contained herein may cause some feathers to be ruffled especially for historians!


For the purpose of chronicling the content herein, I am going to list what is legible to me from this copy;

July 1895 - Appointed to the Public Works Dept, Selangor.

July 1901 - Appointed Architectural Assistant to the Director of Public Works, Federated Malay States and in charge of all the Architectural Work for the Government of the Fed Malay States.
  • 1897 - Carcosa, Residence of the Resident-General *
  • 1901 - Municipal Office & Town Hall, Kuala Lumpur *
  • 1902 - Museum, Kuala Lumpur
  • 1902 - Post Office, Kuala Lumpur
  • 1902 - Railway Offices, Kuala Lumpur *
  • 1904 - Residence for High Commissioner, Kuala Kangsar
  • 1904 - Terminal Offices F.M.S. Railways, Penang *
  • 1905 - British Residency, Seremban*
  • 1906 - Malay Residential School, Kuala Kangsar
  • 1907 - Central Lunatic Asylum, Perak
  • 1908 - Boys School, Ipoh, Perak *
  • 1908 - Mosque, Kuala Lumpur *
  • 1908 - Police Station, Sermeban *
  • 1908 - Railway Station, Kuala Lumpur

* - photo's re-submitted

His submission was dated 27 May 1909. So anything beyond that is not listed.

Hurm. That's quite an impressive list and mixture of buildings designed by A.B. Hubback including a Lunatic Asylum in Perak! I am wondering if it could be our now famous Hospital Bahagia, Ulu Kinta, Tanjung Rambutan? There is much to uncover and so much to correct in our Malaysian History!

I would like to thank Mr. Peter Barbor who took the time to go to the R.I.B.A., in the United Kingdom to look for this documentation. Apparently, even the R.I.B.A. does not have much documentation on A.B. Hubback and I don't blame them. I had also contacted Cambridge University and JSTOR but was sadly informed by them that much of the archives have been burnt during a World War II bomb raid in the UK. Well, so much for that!

3 comments:

Omar said...

Lloyd,Thanks a lot for sharing the list. The third last building in the list, noted by you as [not legible], is Mosque, Kuala Lumpur and this building is now known as Masjid Jamek,Kuala Lumpur. Also I have shared some info about Malay Residential School on your facebook. Regards, Omar Ibrahim

The Lab Ratz said...

Hey En. Omar, OMG! How could I have missed that? Must have been too sleepy then ... :)

sue said...

thank you for the information.

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