Qualla: Kinarut Mansion https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/4/2/kinarut-mansion-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Kinarut Mansion https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion Kinarut Mansion: Introduction https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. Forty-five doors, 152 windows, and 42 chandeliers. Those are the numbers that survive from a manor house that no longer does. On a wooded hill above the Kawang River near Kinarut, in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Graeco-Roman columns rise from the undergrowth like bones from a burial. This was the Kinarut Mansion, Rumah Besar Kinarut, built between 1910 and 1914 by a German named W.F.C. Asimont. It was one of the few stone houses that ever existed in North Borneo, and it lasted barely a decade before the authorities tore it down.

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/4/2/kinarut-mansion-wp/w942-kinarut-mansion-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Kinarut Mansion: A Plantation King's Folly https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. Asimont was the first manager of the Kinarut Rubber Estate, operated by the British Society for Manchester North Borneo Ltd. The plantation was the second largest on Sabah's west coast after Sapong Estate, established across more than ten square kilometres between 1910 and 1911. ...

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/4/2/kinarut-mansion-wp/w942-kinarut-mansion-a-plantation-kings-folly.mp3 0:06 2 full Kinarut Mansion: Abandoned and Demolished https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. Asimont did not enjoy his creation for long. He died in 1919 in Surabaya, in the Dutch East Indies, and was buried in Singapore. Without its builder, the mansion stood empty on its jungle hilltop. The North Borneo Chartered Company authorities demolished the abandoned house in 19...

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/4/2/kinarut-mansion-wp/w942-kinarut-mansion-abandoned-and-demolished.mp3 0:06 3 full Kinarut Mansion: Ghosts Among the Columns https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. The locals who live near the ruins have their own explanations for the unease the place provokes. They speak of a Hantu Tinggi, a Malay ghost that takes the form of a tall tree, disguising itself among the dense forest that has reclaimed the estate. Passersby report seeing fast-m...

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/4/2/kinarut-mansion-wp/w942-kinarut-mansion-ghosts-among-the-columns.mp3 0:06 4 full Kinarut Mansion: Columns in the Canopy https://qualla.com/kinarut-mansion/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. What makes Kinarut Mansion remarkable is not its architectural distinction -- Graeco-Roman columns in colonial Southeast Asia were hardly unique -- but its sheer incongruity. A German rubber plantation manager, working for a British company, hired an Indian architect and Javanese...

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/4/2/kinarut-mansion-wp/w942-kinarut-mansion-columns-in-the-canopy.mp3 0:06 5 full