Kellas House aka Kellie's castle, Malaysia - May 2008

[Raz333]

This place was built by William Kellie Smith in around 1915. He was a Scotsman who made his
fortune out in Malaya with various ventures.
The original name for this building was Kellas house, but over the years its become popularly known
as Kellie's castle.

The castle was never completed as Kellie died of pneumonia whilst overseas in Portugal in 1926.
After his death, Kellie's wife sold the building and estate and moved back to Scotland. The site
was then left abandoned and lost in the jungle.

Today as you can see the site has since been saved and now is a popular tourist attraction.

I'm kicking myself as I had always planned to see this place back in the 80's when it was still
lost in the jungle, but I never did. That would have surely been one hell of an explore.

 

[Urban Mole]

Very nice matey.
You say unfinished, it looks more like its partially demolished and ransacked, which would be a pity

 

[Foxylady]

What a fantastic building! Absolutely love the variety of style influences and materials used. Gorgeous windows and brickwork. Great pics as always, Raz.

 

[ThenewMendoza]

For some daft reason I thought the thread title said 'Krela's house', doh! Although I expect he rules from on high in such a stately pile anyway...

TnM

 

[Foxylady]

For some daft reason I thought the thread title said 'Krela's house', doh!

That's exactly what I thought when I first saw the title.

 

[Bax__]

Great photo's! The place looks amazing! I wonder if the Scotsman was from the Elgin area as there is an area just outside Elgin called Kellas. It's not a word / name you hear often...

 

[Raz333]

Great photo's! The place looks amazing! I wonder if the Scotsman was from the Elgin area as there is an area just outside Elgin called Kellas. It's not a word / name you hear often...

Yes you're correct, kellas was his home town.

Kellie was also a keen car collector and allegedly had an underground garage built. From geophys surveys
they have located what could be one of his cars still in its garage deep underground...

 

[Mr Sam]

now that is uber cool

more pics more pics

 

[King Al]

Any car pre 1926 has got to be worth a few bob! Cool pics as aways Raz

 

[shaongal]

Hi, Raz

Spotted an interesting photo of William Kellie Smith on your site. Would like to get in touch with you about it. Please email me at [email protected]. Thanks.

 

[RichardB]

Great photo's! The place looks amazing! I wonder if the Scotsman was from the Elgin area as there is an area just outside Elgin called Kellas. It's not a word / name you hear often...

There's a Kellas just outside Dundee too I think. It's one of those places you see on the signs but you don't notice when you're driving through it.

 

[Trinpaul]

Great pics I love the 1st one but some of the style seems Venetian. The exposed brickwork inside is brilliant. You can imagine the polished teak or mahogany panelling inside.

 

[Lightbuoy]

I TOTALLY missed this one!

A brilliant looking building there. Love those windows.

Thanks for posting,