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 ...

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