A Brief Malaysian Detour – Ipoh’s Majestic Station Hotel Possibly up for a Make-Over?

A brief detour to South East Asia, but worth it I think. Passing through Malaysia recently I noticed that there was a discussion in the New Straits Times about how the highly successful and popular refurbishment of St. Pancras railway station and the gorgeous St. Pancras Hotel could serve as an inspiration to the long overdue restoration of Ipoh’s Majestic Station Hotel. Like St. Pancras in London, the Majestic is attached to the old Ipoh railway station and has a strong Moorish and Victorian influence via the British Raj – built in 1917 it is known as the ‘Taj Mahal of Ipoh’. The building is not in a bad state at all – ‘faded glory’ is the phrase that comes to mind most readily – verandah rooms do overlook gardens but, reportedly, the service has dropped of and maintenance is not as good as it could be across the 100 rooms.

Now the management says they want to close the hotel and hand back the building to the Malaysian Railway Asset Corporation (RAC). They will then get to decide what to do with it. I have no idea whether RAC is a body we can trust or not with heritage buildings? Let us pray that their decision involves renovation – encouraging to see parallels being drawn to the renaissance of St. Pancras as an inspiration to save the Majestic Station Hotel. It actually sits alongside other excellent buildings in Ipoh -the white neo-classical Dewan Bandaraya (town hall), the High Court and the Saint Micheal’s Institute and Church – all within a 15 minute radius or so.

Here’s some pictures (I’ll skip the rooms, which are not that interesting and basically the problem!)