The majestic Moorish/Greco-Roman building stands proudly atop a small hill in southern Perak, a dream left unfulfilled, a fragment of a vision of what could be. Now, only ruins remained, ruins of what could have been one of the first in Malaya, a grand mansion with a spacious rooftop courtyard as a social hub for the era's wealthy colonial planters and administrators.
Having its foundation stone laid in 1910, the owner of the mansion, William Kellie Smith envisioned a place where the people of a higher social status would meet and socialize. The original plans for the mansion was for a six-storey tower, a wine cellar, a rooftop courtyard and an elevator among other things. However, this dream was never realized as the owner fell ill and passed away before it could be completed. His wife then sold the mansion for she was overcame with grief and returned to Scotland.
The most common tale regarding the construction of Kellie's Castle was William Kellie Smith originally arrived in Malaya in the 1890s and worked under a rubber planter named Alma Baker. Alma Baker obtained a few contracts to make roads in southern Perak not long after, Smith then snapped up this opportunity to work alongside Baker and made a huge profit. With this, he purchased a 900-acre land in southern Perak. This was to be the site of Kellie's Castle as we know today. He named this estate Kinta Kellas, after his home farm in Scotland, Easter Kellas.
In 1910 he built a Moorish styled mansion for himself, his wife Agnes Smith and their first child, Helen Agnes. The manor sat on a little knoll just by the bend of Sungai Kinta, providing a clear, unobstructed view of the Kinta Valley. Its grounds were groomed into pockets of lush gardens, open spaces, lawns and a lake - added to complete the estate ambience. In Britain during the Victorian era, many young, rich, enterprising men took to buying old manor houses, castles and estates to accentuate their stature in the social circles and for a long period, such activities were well accepted.
However, after the birth of his second child, his son whom he named Anthony, in 1915, he decided to build a bigger mansion which was to be an extension to his original home. He employed a workforce from beyond the shores of Malaya, bringing in some seventy workers from south India and work began on the mansion which would take about 10 years to complete. All was well until the early 1920's when an epidemic broke out and took the lives of most of Kellie's workers. He was then asked by the workers to build a temple for the deity Mariamman to ask forgiveness and protection for the people living on the estate. Kellie agreed and everything was back in order again once the temple was built. Tragedy struck when Kellie returned to Europe and was on his way back to Malaya. He made a short detour to Lisbon, Portugal and was believed to have succumbed to a bout of pneumonia and passed away in December 1926. His wife, Agnes, then sold the estate and returned to Scotland due to the difficulty in running the rubber plantation by herself.
Another version of the story regarding the construction of the temple stated that the temple near Kellie's castle was due to Kellie's wife, Agnes' inability to conceive, for he had wanted a son as an heir to inherit his estate. At that time he already had a daughter named Helen. However, one of the Madras laborers told him that by praying to Amman,a Hindu Goddess, whom they believe will grant their wish. So Smith prayed to her and Agnes conceived and delivered a baby boy. As a token of appreciation, Kellie built a Hindu Temple for the Goddess. He also built a statue of himself alongside the Goddess. Until today the tunnel still connects the mansion and the temple, although the path has been sealed off. After this, because of his fascination with the Hindu religion and Indian culture, Kellie's plan was for this house to share similar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. He even employed a big group of Indian labourers to build his dream house, to keep the mansion authentically Indian, resulting in the Moorish style we see today.
The mansion was later restored to its original state, or at least what it should have looked like, although the tower did not reach its intended six floors. Having only 4 storeys, the top of the tower provided a magnificent view of Perak and its lush green forests. The place was turned into a tourist attraction, and although it did not serve the purpose Kellie had intended it to, it made an interesting tourist spot, with even people from Malaysia itself visiting the mansion to admire its architectural beauty. The castle was even featured in the 1999 movie, Anna and the King, since it is the ideal location for a romantic story as the castle itself had a romantic story of its own. Besides this, it is also said that Kellie's soul still roams the castle, although it is probably just a story to bring in tourists who hopes to catch a glimpse of Kellie himself walking (or rather, floating?) along the corridors of his unrealized dreams.
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