Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, known locally as Jalan TAR, is Kuala Lumpur's original textile and fabric trading street just north of Dataran Merdeka. Laid out in the late 19th century as Batu Road, a cart track linking the young settlement to the tin-mining village of Kampung Batu, it grew into a shophouse-lined commercial spine as Indian Muslim cloth traders, mostly Malabari and Penang Chuliar families, opened textile shops from the early 1900s. Chinese theatre owner Chua Cheng Bok added the 900-seat Coliseum Theatre in 1920, followed a year later by the Coliseum Cafe and Hotel, a Hainanese-run haunt of colonial planters and the novelist Somerset Maugham. In 1963 Batu Road was renamed for Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who had died three years earlier. The strip is now a DBKL Special Character Zone under the Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040, with the 1936 Odeon Cinema building's heritage facade revitalisation due to finish in 2026.
Batu Road
colonial era until 1963
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
1963 to present
late 19th century
Batu Road is laid out as a colonial-era cart track running north from the young Kuala Lumpur settlement to the tin-mining village of Kampung Batu, taking its name from Sungai Batu, the river running through the area.
early 1900s
Indian Muslim traders, mainly Malabari families and Chuliars from Penang and Melaka, settle along Batu Road and open cloth and textile shops, establishing the street's identity as KL's fabric trading quarter.
1920
Chinese businessman Chua Cheng Bok builds the 900-seat Coliseum Theatre, an Art Deco cinema with a balcony, one of the oldest surviving cinemas in Malaysia.
1921
The Coliseum Cafe and Hotel opens next door, run by a group of Hainanese business partners; it becomes a regular meeting place for rubber planters, tin miners and colonial civil servants, with novelist Somerset Maugham among its guests during the 1920s.
1936
The Cathay Organisation builds the Odeon Cinema at the corner of Batu Road and Campbell Street (now Jalan Dang Wangi), designed by architect A.O. Coltman in Art Deco style with then-novel fire-prevention and emergency-lighting features.
1963
Batu Road is renamed Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in honour of Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Malaysia's first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who had reigned from 1957 until his death on 1 April 1960.
1973-1976
Menara Campbell and the Pertama Complex are built along the road, introducing large-scale modern retail and office space alongside the older shophouse trade.
1994-1999
SOGO department store and the Maju Junction mall open on Jalan TAR, further diversifying the retail mix beyond the traditional textile shops.
28 February 2015
The Odeon Cinema screens its last film and closes permanently after a series of downsizings, having been twinned in 2006 and briefly reopened as a single 250-seat hall in 2011.
2021
The Coliseum Cafe's original 100-year-old premises on Jalan TAR close permanently during the Covid-19 pandemic; the brand continues to operate under the same name at other outlets in the Klang Valley.
late 2024
Property agency CBRE closes the sale of a renovated four-and-a-half-storey shop office on Jalan TAR for about RM6.4 million, a transaction cited as evidence of renewed investor confidence in the street's heritage shophouses.
2026
Restoration of the Odeon Cinema building's heritage facade, undertaken as part of Kuala Lumpur City Hall's Special Character Zone plan for Jalan TAR under the Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040, is expected to complete, with property analysts anticipating higher foot traffic on the street's southern stretch as a result.
Textile and fabric trade
Cloth shops trace back to Indian Muslim traders, chiefly Malabari families and Chuliars from Penang and Melaka, who settled on Batu Road from the early 1900s; the trade still peaks with bulk textile, songkok and baju sales ahead of Ramadan and Hari Raya.
Coliseum Theatre
Built in 1920 by Chua Cheng Bok, this 900-seat Art Deco hall passed to Dr Chua Boon Teck's family after Chua's 1940 death and was converted into the two-screen LFS Coliseum Cineplex in 2012; it still screens Bollywood and Tamil films today.
Odeon Cinema building
Designed by architect A.O. Coltman for the Cathay Organisation in 1936, the Art Deco cinema at the corner with Jalan Dang Wangi closed for good in 2015; rather than being demolished as proposed in 2019, its heritage facade was retained and the interior converted into an event venue.
Pre-war shophouse rows
Three-storey Art Deco and 1920s shophouses line both shoulders of the street; as part of the Special Character Zone, redevelopment must retain the facade or key architectural features and pass DBKL's Design Review Panel before approval.
Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman night market
A Saturday pasar malam runs along the side lane parallel to the main road, an offshoot of the street's daytime fabric trade selling textiles, clothing, domestic goods and food.
Special Character Zone status
Jalan TAR sits in the Special Character Zone under the Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040, a heritage category distinct from the Primary and Secondary Heritage Zones that still permits active commercial use while protecting key facades from demolition.
The road began in the late 19th century as Batu Road, a colonial-era cart track linking Kuala Lumpur's early settlement to the tin-mining village of Kampung Batu. It carried that name until 1963, making it well over a century old.
Batu Road was renamed in 1963 to honour Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Malaysia's first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who had reigned from 1957 until his death on 1 April 1960. The renaming was part of a wider post-independence practice of naming major thoroughfares after national figures.
Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad was Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan from 1933 before being elected the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of independent Malaya on 3 August 1957. A barrister trained at London's Inner Temple, he was installed as king on 13 September 1957 and served until his death in 1960; his portrait has appeared on Malaysian ringgit notes since 1967.
No. The Coliseum Cafe and Hotel opened on the street in 1921 and operated there for a century, but its original Jalan TAR premises closed permanently in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Coliseum brand still trades from other outlets in the Klang Valley.
The Cathay Organisation built the Art Deco Odeon Cinema in 1936 at the corner of Jalan TAR and Jalan Dang Wangi. It screened its last film on 28 February 2015 and, after a 2019 demolition proposal was dropped, its heritage facade was preserved and the building converted into an event venue, with further restoration work due to finish in 2026.
Yes. Built in 1920 by Chua Cheng Bok, it is one of Malaysia's oldest surviving cinemas and was converted into the two-screen LFS Coliseum Cineplex in 2012, where it continues to show mostly Bollywood and Tamil-language films.
Menara Campbell and the Pertama Complex were built between 1973 and 1976, bringing large-scale modern retail to the street for the first time. SOGO department store and the Maju Junction mall followed between 1994 and 1999, further modernising the retail mix.
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