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Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library

After the new Government Offices were completed, it was decided that for convenience, the Government Printing Office should be sited in the vicinity. J Russell was then the Government Printer. With his long experience in the printing industry, he helped the Public Works Department architects to design an ideal printing office which was completed in 1899. A rare feature for a building of its time was the structural support system of cast iron columns and trusses, which allowed for a large open interior. This was necessary to house the large printing press machines.

The architectural style contrasts with that of the other government buildings constructed around the same period. The exterior is exposed brick with plastered columns and bay windows. The upper parts of the ground floor windows are half-circular and decorated with keystones. The gables at the corners are of Flemish design and are crowned with triangular pediments. Brick pilasters, plastered over and topped with garlic-shaped finials, flank the gables.

Interestingly, five-foot walkways and shading devices were not included in the original design. The canopy roofs were added in the 1940s and retained during the last renovation.The building was renovated in 1986 to house the Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library.

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