Kellie's Castle
| Kellie's Castle | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Moorish Revival / Indo-Saracenic |
| Town or city | Batu Gajah |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Construction started | 1915 |
| Completed | construction ended in 1926 before completion |
| Client | William Kellie Smith |
Kellie's Castle (sometimes also called Kellie's Folly) is a castle located in Batu Gajah, Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. The unfinished, ruined mansion, was built by a Scottish planter named William Kellie Smith. According to differing accounts, it was either a gift for his wife or a home for his son. Kellie's Castle is situated beside the Raya River (Sungai Raya), which is a tributary to the Kinta River.
William Kellie Smith (1870—1926) was born in 1870 in Kellas, Moray Firth, Scotland. In 1890, at the age of 20, he arrived in Malaya as a civil engineer. He joined Charles Alma Baker's survey firm, who had won concessions from the state government to clear 9000 hectares of forests in Batu Gajah, Perak. With the substantial profits made from his business venture with Baker, Smith bought 1,000 acres (405 ha) of jungle land in the district of Kinta and started planting rubber trees and dabbled in the tin mining industry.
In time, he named his estate "Kinta Kellas" after his home farm "Easter Kellas". Smith went on to own the Kinta Kellas Tin Dredging Company as well. With his fortune made, he returned home to marry his Scottish sweetheart, Agnes, and brought her over to Malaya in 1903. They had a daughter named Helen the following year.
In 1909 Smith built his first mansion, "Kellas House.," which was so unique that it was even mentioned in the London Financier newspaper on 15 September 1911. (Smith's mansion is accessible from the main road across a bridge over a stream.)
In 1915, with the birth of his son and heir Anthony, Smith started planning for a huge castle with Scottish, Moorish, and Tamilvanan Indian architecture.
Smith brought in 70 craftsmen Tamilvanan from Chennai,madras, India. All the bricks and marble were imported from India, too. Included in the plan for the 6-storey tower was Malaya's first elevator, an indoor tennis court and a rooftop courtyard for entertaining.
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