We are delighted to host this SAHGB-IHR Architectural History Seminar.
This seminar given by Soon-Tzu Speechley traces the parallel development of imperial and vernacular forms of classicism in British Malaya from the nineteenth century to the Second World War.
Along the length of the Malay Peninsula and the neighbouring islands of Penang and Singapore, tens of thousands of historic buildings bear ornamental vocabulary drawn from Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Composite capitals, dentillated cornices, and rusticated quoins adorn the façades of heritage buildings throughout modern-day Malaysia and Singapore. As the late Lee Kip Lin noted in his history of Singapore’s residential architecture, ‘with few exceptions, all buildings were in the classical style until the arrival of the Modern Movement in the 1930s.’
How did the classical style become so ubiquitous in Malaya? The style was introduced by a succession of European colonial powers from the sixteenth century. It became synonymous with governance during the period of British colonial intervention, which began in the late eighteenth century. Yet this architectural language was soon appropriated – first by Malaya’s indigenous rulers, and later by its cosmopolitan mercantile communities.
In the hands of local builders and architects, classicism was translated, becoming a distinctive, and highly syncretic localised style. Indeed, by the twentieth century, classicism could be seen as the vernacular architectural language of British Malaya. Blending influences from the Malay Archipelago, the Indian subcontinent, and southern China along with elements of Neo-Palladianism and the Edwardian Baroque, Malayan classicism represents a distinctive, localised iteration of an international language, an architectural creole.
This talk traces the development of this Malayan classicism, from its initial use as a colonial language of power, to its translation into a coherent local vernacular.
Soon-Tzu is a Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Architectural History and Urban Cultural Heritage at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include classical architecture and its reception in British Malaya, professional networks within the British Empire, and imperial heritage’s place in postcolonial Southeast Asia.
For the foreseeable future the SAHGB Seminars will be virtual events via Zoom. We will circulate joining instructions via email the morning of the scheduled event. Please complete the form below to register.
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