However, many of these traditional shophouses, particularly the upper living units, are gradually being abandoned due to the proliferation of towering high-rises.
Despite this, one individual made a bold move to ditch his skyscraper home in Chow Kit and live in a shophouse in the vibrant area of Brickfields.
After a long day at work, legal associate Caleb Goh Hern-Ee, 30, heads up the stairs to his charming, retro-style home located right above a restaurant on Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad in KL.
The shophouse, built between 1945 and 1950, was transformed by Goh in 2021, into his own beautiful bachelor pad. “I came to KL for better work and better pay,” Goh, who’s from Muar in Johor, told FMT Lifestyle.
Like many young professionals, he rented a flat but quickly grew to despise the lifestyle. “It’s just a box in the air,” he lamented. “After sometime I started to miss the sound of rain. When you live in a high-rise, you don’t hear the sound of raindrops on the roof tiles. It’s just another flat upstairs,” Goh said.
It took him two years to find this gem in Brickfields, and that too only after a friend recommended it to him. “I like how original it felt,” he said about his first impressions of the place.
Goh said the shophouse has undergone minimal renovations since the 1950s, with many of its original features still intact, from doors and grills to picture rails and even the kitchen hood.
“When I first viewed the flat, I fell in love with the floor. It is traditional red oxide flooring, very common in southern India.”
Another iconic feature is the air-well, connecting neighbouring units and allowing sunlight and wind to flow through. It’s here that Goh tends to his mini garden.
And it’s not just the shophouse but Brickfields that stole Goh’s heart.
“When you live high up in the air, you feel so disconnected. Brickfields has this fantastic kampung feel. It’s like being a part of a community.”
Coming from a family of tinsmiths, Goh’s current home, named “Nam Hoe,” pays homage to his ancestral shophouse back home, which sadly, no longer stands.
His lifelong fascination with history is evident in every corner of his home, filled with rare treasures collected over the years. From old cameras to gramophones and a rotary dial phone, “Nam Hoe” is a haven for history lovers.
“I enjoy the cosiness of clutter, and I like surrounding myself with reminders of home. I tried to stay true to the house. The house was built in the late 40s to the early 50s, so I sourced pieces from that era,” Goh said.
In fact, much of his home is made up of pieces collected from junkyards, recycling centres, and friends eager to part with old furniture.
Beyond all, Goh is primarily a collector of media – photographs, books, records – depicting life in Malaysia dating back to the 1960s and earlier.
“I am hoping that my collection grows beyond me, so people can use it as a resource or research tool,” he shared.
But this former kampung boy isn’t tethered to the past. He has a vision for Kuala Lumpur, the city he now calls home.
“With fewer people calling inner city KL home, there will not be this motivation to improve it. If it continues to just be a place for cafés and offices, KL will never recover,” he said.
Goh hosts many intimate gatherings at his home including piano concerts and poetry readings. He even leads cultural walks around Brickfields.
As he keeps this historic shophouse alive, both he and his home have become part of Kuala Lumpur’s rich tapestry of history, arts, and culture.
Follow Nam Hoe on Instagram.