Suleiman Court was the first
high-rise apartment building
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...
in
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, sub ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. The building was constructed at the direction of Malaysia's first
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
,
Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...
, who intended the Courts to provide
affordable housing
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...
. The Courts was named after Suleiman bin Abdul Rahman, then incumbent Minister of Interior & Justice, who had watched over the progress of the Housing Trust for 8 years since its inception.
The Courts were built in 1957, as the
Federation of Malaya neared official independence from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Tunku Abdul Rahman had hoped for the building to be not just complete, but already occupied, in time for
Hari Merdeka (the official proclamation of independence) on 31 August; however, the first apartments were not occupied until February 1958.
The three blocks of the Courts (Block A, Block B, and Block C) were located on Batu Road (now
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (formerly Batu Road) is a major one-way road in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The road is named after the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan.
Attractions
On the shoulders of this road are pr ...
), and had 295 apartments between them. They were demolished in 1986, to make room for the
Sogo shopping complex.
References
200 former residents of Suleiman Court reminisce at gathering- ''
The Star'' 21 August 2007
External links
Suleiman Courts Residents website
{{coord missing, Malaysia
Buildings and structures in Kuala Lumpur
Residential skyscrapers in Malaysia
Skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur
Demolished buildings and structures in Malaysia
Buildings and structures demolished in 1986
Buildings and structures completed in 1958
20th-century architecture in Malaysia