W KUALA LUMPUR HOTEL & THE RESIDENCES BY TROPICANA | Kuala Lumpur ( KLCC - Jalan Ampang ) | S.O.M. | 55F | 232m | U/C

[Subangite]

Remembering Bok House

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography.../bokstart.html

[pedang]

[redstone]

Some developers see only money. Heritage mans nothing to them.

In the 1980s, Singapore lost our grandest villa, Eu Tong Sen's Eu Villa which is much grander than Bok. It sits on Mount Sophia, looking over Orchard Road. I can't believe it had been overlooked for preservation. It was a very very sad lost, a grand domed brick mansion with Roman decorations.

But I'm glad this mansion got saved, the old mansion of Tan Kah Kee and later Tan Chin Tuan:

[extintpunk]

[XNeo]

so sayang!.

they can save the building through architecture wise...

like this ke :

[OshHisham]

Originally Posted by XNeo

so sayang!.

they can save the building through architecture wise...

like this ke :

Malaysian architects still not reached that level lah!!...they are not that genious.

[XNeo]

and we didn't have any expert house movers.

[Vince]

Very Tragic.....My heart bleeds to hear that......I will boycott that new building built there!

[AhChuan]

Originally Posted by Vince

Very Tragic.....My heart bleeds to hear that......I will boycott that new building built there!

Hahaha...you think they(people who construct the new building) will care what you complaning meh. Once saw money, other things they ignore. But still, I also join you to boycott the new building.

[OshHisham]

let's boycott it!!...never make any threads for it..

[baqthier]

Xneo> if ur idea was materialised means that they will have to demolish wisma bsn and zouk lah!

[Greg]

Originally Posted by oshkoshbgood

let's boycott it!!...never make any threads for it..

Great idea, but can we resist the temptation to monitor the progress of a 60 storey tower?

[redstone]

Can build the new tower over Bok. Even a few hundred sq m still must develope. Sigh

[Lastresorter]

Just afraid that they face financial problem later and then turned it into an open-space carpark... disaster!

[szehoong]

Originally Posted by Lastresorter

Just afraid that they face financial problem later and then turned it into an open-space carpark... disaster!

hah! That is what happened to a lot of heritage building sites being demolished.

A good example would be the Pavillion Theatre site.

[szehoong]

FROM MALAYSIAKINI.COM

Rais: Bok House issue closed

Bede Hong

Dec 21, 06 4:45pm



The Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry today closed the chapter on the demolished palatial Bok House, deeming rehabilitation costs as prohibitive and that the structure never had any historical or aesthetic value to begin with.

The 77-year-old two story structure, located in downtown Kuala Lumpur, was torn down over the weekend despite concerted efforts by conservationists, historians and activists to get the government to recognise it’s historical significance.






Minister Dr Rais Yatim said he wanted to put the matter behind him and that there would be no change to the National Heritage Act, gazetted last year, in the foreseeable future.

“The ministry tries to be empathic but objective. There was no need to look at the Heritage Act, we feel sorry for people who are expressive... but the building had no overpowering aesthetic value,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

“The matter is closed,” he said, adding however that the public ‘must continue to petition’ on buildings deemed fit to come under the protection of the Act.

It is said the Bok House, located along Jalan Ampang near the Petronas Twin Towers was built by tycoon Chua Cheng Bok to please the father of a woman he was courting.

Chua made his fortune as the sole distributor of Mercedes Benz vehicles in the region for several decades under the Cycle & Carriage company. He passed away in 1940.




Private property


Rais reiterated that the Bok House was located on private property and the action to demolish it could not be stopped as it is not registered as a heritage building.





Badan Warisan Malaysia had petitioned the Bok House in Jalan Ampang as a national heritage site in April.

The structure was torn down by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) on Sunday. Chua’s family, who own the property, had ordered the demolition.

“The main factor we have to consider is the safety and soundness of the structure. Major parts of the Bok House have been subject to severe deterioration. Rehabilitation costs would have been severe,” said the minister.

Rais said the information was based on a report made by the ministry last September, which found many parts of the building dilapidated and in need of repair.

“It was built by a wealthy man. I don’t want to irk heritage lovers, but it was just one house in town that was defective,” he added.

Rais said the ministry is open to public petitions to place buildings under protection of the Heritage Act, naming the Central Market and the Majestic
Hotel as beneficiaries of such requests.





“If the public is interested, please contact the heritage commissioner (Prof Siti Zuraina Majid ) or myself,” he said.

Activists have been calling for the amendment of the National Heritage Act, warning that more historical buildings would be torn down heedlessly.

[szehoong]

^ This fella isn't fit to be the minister of the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry

How can he said something like "the structure never had any historical or aesthetic value to begin with" ?

I would accept the reason that it is a private property and that they had no jurisdiction over it or something but certainly not this explanation. Nor that I am gullible enuf to believe that an old mansion like The Bok House isn't structurally sound. Such old mansions are built to the highest and most stringent quality of its time and they are built to last.

The ministry could have done something and they had the power to preserve the building even when it is under private hands. That is how they nearly wrestle Coliseum Theatre out of the hands of Dr. Chua which incidently is the grandchild of Chua Cheng Bok

So yea......they would wanna spend 400million on a useless sports complex in UK and also a redundant Istana but they wouldn't wanna spend a cent on preserving the country's heritage. Is this what Malaysia is coming to?

[szehoong]

Originally Posted by oshkoshbgood

actually when government took control of Colliseum Cinema(by force), the owner plays racial issue, telling that government wants to 'rampas' chinese ownership in KL.but this will happen if government doesn't take any action.

Actually you've been mislead. The owner had not said anything racial (as far as the various sources I've had my hands on) and on the contrary of what you've said, the owner wanted to preserved Coliseum Theatre.

It is the govt which intended to destroy the heritage of the cinema. Look......it is indeed rare to find a 'living heritage'. That means that this heritage building still functioned as it is intended to be - as a cinema! But the govt wanted to turn the building into a museum which hardly would reflect what the building is and a major part of its beautiful interior would have to be retrofitted and demolished to accommodate the spanking new museum.

So in this case, it is better for the govt not to be a busybody and leave this building alone. But for the Bok House.....they could have intervened but they didn't. Same case and incidently - same family which owns both properties. I wonder what is the ministry doing man

[OshHisham]

if he says that the BOK HOUSE was just a 'house built by a wealthy man'...how about Istana Negara?...same what??

[szehoong]

Originally Posted by oshkoshbgood

yeah...now i blame the owner.greedy!!!!!!...

As much as I would love to blame the owner for being greedy.......I couldn't entirely fault them. Okay.....imagine yourself in their shoes, your property is sitting on a land worth RM1000/sq ft.......would you sell esp when you do not have any substantial income? What could have they do with a nice old mansion? Soem people might suggest turning it into a hotel or a restaurant (like Le Coq D'Or before) but the renovation and rehabilitation cost would be too expensive.

Only a white knight in the form of a rich corporation or tycoon could save the building. Or better still the govt. Somehow a white knight failed to emerge and the govt is saying that the building do not have an aesthetic and heritage value (I am still wondering how could the well-learned minister could say such thing?). In many instances around the world, it is always the govt that steps in. So I would put the blame squarely on our govt for not taking the initiative to stop the demolition.