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

Back to Discover Kuala Lumpur; list of Sports Clubs in Kuala Lumpur and Sports Clubs in Malaysia

 New Properties in Kuala Lumpur

Looking for new properties in Kuala Lumpur? Get the e-brochures right here without having to visit or contact individual developers.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Map of Roads in Kuala Lumpur

 Map of Expressways in the Klang Valley

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.