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Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, Sungei Petani Branch
The Sungai Petani branch of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (now HSBC) was built in 1929 and it is one of the most distictive building of all of the banks premises in Malaysia, said to rival the elegance of Ipoh's own handsome building in the classical style.
The photograph clearly shows the Mogul style of the Sungei Petani building, rather reminiscent of the old Kuala Lumpur railway station. A cupola surmounts the turret above the front door with windows more suitable for the film Arabian Nights. Upstairs were two flats where the manager lived in the larger.
Described in 1959 as having louvred wooden shutters with the public areas tiled and bare concrete floors for the staff, a massive teak, L shaped counter, no air conditioning and due to the shortage of power a kerosene operated refrigerator which, once it got going, took 6 hours to cool a beer!
Also in the photograph is a Perak registered (AA 7098), split windscreen, Morris Minor.
To read more about the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, click here.