Patrick Comerford
During the past few weeks in Kuching, I have stopped for coffee on a few occasions in the Round Tower for coffee and had dinner nearby in the Magenta restaurant in the Square Tower, two fortress-like buildings that are part of the architectural legacy of the Brooke era and the rule of the ‘White Rajahs’ in Sarawak.
The Square Tower in Kuching, decorated with the Brooke era coat of arms, is at the edge of the Waterfront on the south bank of Sarawak River. It was originally built as a prison in 1879 at the same time as Fort Margharita on the opposite side of the river. Its wooden predecessor on the site was burnt down in 1857 during the Gold Miners’ Rebellion.
The Square Tower was built next to the first-ever prison of Kuching, which was built in 1877 and demolished in the 1930s. Many local sources believe the ground floor of the Square Tower was used as a maximum detention centre for holding criminals.
A landing point known as Pengkalan Batu is next to the Square Tower. There place the Brooke Rajahs of Sarawak would step ashore from their boats from the Astana when they arrived to deal with administrative matters at the Old Court House.
It later became a fortress, with both Fort Margharita and the Square Tower as sentry posts on their respective sides of the river. But a shot was never fired from the Square Tower in any conflict.
When the Brookes needed a dance hall, the tower was transformed for the Rajahs and government servants during weekends.
The best time to visit the Square Tower is early in the morning or late in the evening when a gentle breeze sweeps through the area. From outside, the tower has a magnificent appearance. Inside, a steep climb up a spiral staircase is rewarded at the top with spectacular views of Mount Santubong and Mount Serapi, views that have enchanted visitors to Sarawak such as Somerset Maugham.
In his Borneo novels, Somerset Maugham renamed Sarawak as Sembulu and Kuching as Kuala Solor, and described Sarawak as a ‘terribly jungly place’. His short stories of lonely British colonial officers capture the difference of Sarawak, but are filtered through his Home Counties suspicion of ‘otherness’.
Some of the Europeans in Kuching who inspired characters in his later novels were outraged by what he had written and even threatened lawsuits; others, it is said, were jealous that he had not written about them. Yet his Borneo stories attracted many tourists to Sarawak.
The lime wash paint finishing has suffered in recent years and this has slightly damaged the structure of the wall. Nevertheless, it still is a great sight to behold. In recent years the tower became a multimedia information centre for tourists. Today, it is the Magenta Restaurant, where we had dinner overlooking the river one recent evening.
Nearby, the Round Tower Café and Restaurant is housed in the Round Tower, beneath the tall storeys of the Waterfront Hotel and across the street from the General Post Office, designed in 1931 by the Irish-born architect Denis Santry (1879-1960) of Swan and Maclaren Architects, Singapore.
The Round Tower was built as a government dispensary in 1886, two years after the great fire in Kuching in 1884 destroyed most of the buildings between Carpenter Street and the Main Bazaar.
Some local sources say that the Round Tower was built as a fort to protect the city in times of emergency, and the building has some windows that look like gun slots. However, when it was completed, the building was used by Brooke-era officials as a dispensary, complementing the medical headquarters in what is now known as the Pavilion Building.
The building was later destroyed in a fire but it was rebuilt in brick construction, retains the round towers overlooking the town. The Round Tower retains many of its distinctive Brooke-era features, including the door frames, windows and tiles. From the top of the tower, there are views across the town.
The Round Tower was used by the Labour Department in the late 20th century, and then as an office for a section of the Judiciary Department of Sarawak. For a time, it housed to a handcraft centre that opened in 2004, with displays from basket weaving, bead making and mat weaving to wood carving.
Today, the ground floor of the Round Tower houses a café and restaurant, there is seating in the two round towers, and the walls are lined with photographs from the Brooke-era in Kuching.
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