The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Across the road from Kuala Lumpur's Moorish railway station, a white colonial hotel opened in 1932, at a time when most travellers reached the town by train. The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur occupies that building again after a long interruption. It closed in 1983, housed the National Art Gallery for years, and reopened as a hotel in 2012 under YTL Hotels, with a new tower wing rising behind the restored original.

History

The Majestic was designed by the Singapore architects Keys & Dowdeswell and opened in 1932 on the road below the railway station. It became a centre of the town's social life, with dances, receptions and dinners for planters, officials and visitors passing through the Federated Malay States. New hotels gradually drew business away, and the Majestic closed in 1983. The building was then given to the National Art Gallery, which used it until the gallery moved to new premises. YTL Hotels restored the original wing and added the tower, and the hotel reopened in December 2012. It later joined Marriott's Autograph Collection, while YTL continued to run it.

Architecture and design

The original building combines neoclassical symmetry with Art Deco details, and the restoration kept its facade, verandahs and high-ceilinged public rooms. Inside the Majestic Wing, dark timber, period lighting and ceiling fans recreate the hotel of the 1930s. The Tower Wing, behind it, is contemporary in structure and holds most of the rooms, but its interiors borrow the same colonial palette so that the two parts belong together.

Rooms and suites

Rooms are divided between the two wings. The Majestic Wing holds a smaller collection of rooms and suites with period furnishings and butler service, while the Tower Wing contains the larger number of rooms, decorated in a more contemporary manner. Guests tend to choose the old wing for atmosphere and the tower for views and space.

Dining

The Tea Lounge serves afternoon tea in a long room beside the Orchid Conservatory, where orchids grow under glass. Contango is the main restaurant, with several open kitchens. The Colonial Café serves dishes associated with the colonial era, the cooking of the Hainanese chefs who once ran the kitchens of British households and clubs. The Smoke House, with its cigar room, billiard table and bar, is a deliberately clubby space.

Wellness

The Majestic Spa takes its look from 1930s Shanghai, with treatment rooms decorated in that style. An outdoor swimming pool and a fitness centre complete the facilities.

Weddings and events

The hotel has a ballroom and several function rooms, and it hosts weddings, banquets and conferences. The heritage rooms of the Majestic Wing and the Orchid Conservatory are used for receptions and smaller celebrations.

Location

The hotel stands on Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, opposite the old Kuala Lumpur railway station, completed in 1910 to a design by A. B. Hubback. The National Mosque and the Islamic Arts Museum are close by, the Perdana Botanical Gardens lie just behind, and Dataran Merdeka with the Sultan Abdul Samad Building is about 15 minutes on foot. KL Sentral, the main rail hub with trains to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, is a short taxi ride away. The hotel sits at the edge of the colonial core, so most of the city's heritage buildings can be reached on foot in the cooler hours of the morning. As a luxury hotel in Kuala Lumpur, it offers something the newer towers of the city cannot: a 1930s building in working order, with its verandahs, tea lounge and billiard room in daily use.