Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur

Royal Selangor Club (8 February, 2006)


The Royal Selangor Club (GPS: 3.14925, 101.69306) was founded in 1884 as a social and cricket club to serve the growing expatriate community in Kuala Lumpur.

The earliest incarnation of the Royal Selangor Club building was just a simple timber structure with attap roofing on the northeast corner of the Padang, (nowadays Dataran Merdeka). In 1890, a new two-storey timber structure replaced the original building, and was sited on the west side of the Padang.

The present mock-Tudor style adopted for the clubhouse hails back to 1910, when the clubhouse was once again rebuilt. The architect is the prolific AB Hubback, who is instrumental in putting up all the Mughal-style buildings in Kuala Lumpur, like the Railway Station, Post Office, etc. It was during this period that two wings were added to the building on either side.

The Royal Selangor Club is often called "the Spotted Dog". There are a few theories how this nickname came about. One has it that the Police Commissioner's wife used to bring her Dalmation dogs to the club. Another more likely theory related to the club opening its doors to a mixed membership, as opposed to other club of that time that were exclusively for the expatriate community.

A fire in 1970 destroyed the 1910 structure, requiring it to be rebuilt once again. Designed by Fong Ying Leong, retaining the mock-Tudor style, the present structure was completed in 1979. An international call to fame of the Royal Selangor Club was that it was there that the Hash House Harriers were formed, in 1938.

Royal Selangor Club (8 February, 2006)


Royal Selangor Club building at night (7 July, 2016)


Night view of the Royal Selangor Club building from the padang at Dataran Merdeka (7 July, 2016)

360° View of the Royal Selangor Club on Google Maps Street View

The Royal Selangor Club is on the map of the Historic Buildings of Kuala Lumpur

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