Oriental Building

The Oriental Building features a distinct, stepped roofline and curved balconies that slice into the corner of the street. It rose in nineteen thirty-two as the headquarters for the Oriental Life Assurance Company, built when the British administration pushed for modern, fire-resistant commercial spaces in downtown Kuala Lumpur. During the Japanese occupation of the nineteen forties, the secret police seized the upper floors for their headquarters. Locals still whisper about the heavy iron doors and the sounds that leaked into the stairwells at night.