Malaysia's Kellie's Castle is an Unexpected Treat

Germany is known for its majestic fairytale castles while France has more châteaux than any country could ever reasonably need. Comparatively, Malaysia lags some way behind.

However, there is one, standing alone at the top of a little hill, overlooking the Kinta River, around 20 minutes away from Ipoh.

Named Kellie’s Castle the huge home is well worth a visit. – both for its history and for curiosity’s sake. It’s also a fascinating insight into one man’s dream, the man after whom the folly is named…

William Kellie Smith was from the village of Kellas in Scotland. In 1890, at the age of 20, he arrived in the then undeveloped Malaya where, he met an estate owner called Alma Baker, who had won concessions from the state government to clear 360 hectares of forests in Perak.

With the substantial profits made from his business venture with Alma Baker, William started planting rubber trees and dabbled in the tin mining industry. In time, he became the owner of Kinta Kellas Estate and the Kinta Kellas Tin Dredging Company.

Now with his fortune made, he returned home to marry his Scottish sweetheart, Agnes, and brought her over to Malaysia in 1903. The following year, the couple was blessed with a daughter whom they named Helen.

As pleased as he was, William Smith desperately wanted a son and heir to take over his empire in the Malay Isles. It was a dream that would take until 1915 to realise, when Agnes gave birth to baby Anthony.

To celebrate Anthony’s birth, William decided to expand on his mansion – but a simple extension wasn’t quite what he had in mind. Instead, William started planning for a huge castle which he intended to call Kellas House, after his hometown in Scotland.

Because of his fascination with the Hindu religion and Indian culture, William’s aim was for the house to share similar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. He even employed a big group of Indian labourers to keep the Kellas House authentically Indian.

But it was not only the incredible cost of importing material and labourers from abroad that made the house so fascinating to locals and travellers alike – it was the sheer scale of William’s ambition. For example, his was to be the first building in Malaya to have an elevator. There were also two tunnels designed to run under the river nearby – one of these tunnels connects to the Hindu temple some distance away from the main house.

On the second floor, Smith planned to build an indoor tennis court – an ambitious project even by today’s standards. On the highest floor, there is a rooftop courtyard for parties. This castle was to be the hub for entertaining wealthy colonial planters who had settled in Malaya and was so unique that it was even mentioned in the London Financier newspaper on 15 September 1911.

In the end, Kellas House, later known as Kellie’s Castle or even Kellie’s Folly to some, was never completed. William Kellie Smith himself died of pneumonia during a short trip to Portugal in 1926, a trip he was making to collect his prized elevator from the manufacturer. His heartbroken wife decided to pack up and return home to Scotland selling the estate and Kellie’s Castle to a British company called Harrisons and Crosfield.

Today, as you approach the castle, you can’t help but notice the Victorian style influence, such as the red brick walls rising five storeys high. It is no wonder that the castle was supposed to come with a lift.

Walking the halls I was fascinated to see how William had integrated the different types of architectural design. There’s definitely European influences, such as large linen storage room, a spacious wine cellar, the square bedrooms and the tennis court! Then, a world away from Europe, you have lovely window frames in Moorish designs which sit alongside local Islamic touches.

The other thing that strikes you is the space. At 1,200 sq ft, William’s master bedroom is bigger than most average apartments nowadays, but security was obviously a worry – William included an escape route that leads out to his beautiful garden.

It’s unusual that a man who took the idea of his home being his castle right to the very limit wouldn’t feel entirely secure there. Looking at the structure as an outsider I felt the castle looked just as it should – solid and secure enough to protect the people inside. There aren’t even any glass windows on the ground floor, instead William designed small holes at the top of the walls to create some natural ventilation.

I’d love to be able to ask him what it was he feared. Maybe one day I will – it’s said that William haunts the castle to this day, and I certainly intend to go back. Maybe we’ll bump into each other.