The homes that Iversen built

Architect B M Iversen's daughter reminisces on her father's love and dedication to the people of Malaysia

Not many people can claim that their father was instrumental in rebuilding war-torn Malaya and to have written a book about it. Ruth Iversen Rollit is one such person. Ruth lives in London, but she considers Malaysia, in particular Ipoh, to be her home.

Ruth was born in Batu Gajah, grew up in Ipoh and, after a short break to go to school in Denmark, returned to live in Batu Gajah with her planter husband, before he was killed in a payroll ambush in 1963.

With her five-week-old son, Ruth moved back into her parents’ home in Ipoh and, six years later, met and married Philip, a young diplomat, and accompanied him on his postings around the world. Ruth has returned to Ipoh many times.

On October 21, the Malaysian High Commission in London hosted a talk by Ruth to showcase her father’s love and dedication to the people of Malaysia. The event was organised by the British Malaysian Society.

According to Ruth, Berthel Michael Iversen built numerous homes, schools, cinemas and offices throughout Malaysia, and she explained his technique of incorporating the local climate into his designs, such as small windows and ventilation slats. She said, “Now, architects in Malaysia are looking at his work to try to solve the problem of having to use air-conditioning all the time, which ruins our world.”

Those who think that they are not familiar with Iversen’s handiwork should consider that most Cathay and Odeon cinemas in Malaysia are Iversen’s work.

The young Iversen came to Malaya in 1928, having been persuaded to do so by his brother, a planter. He did not follow in his brother’s footsteps, but followed his interest, which was architecture. He joined a Singapore firm and was sent to Ipoh to oversee the construction of some buildings.

He fell in love with the limestone hills, and later fell in love with Ruth’s mother. They married in Penang. In 1941, he raced south to Singapore, with his young family, to escape the marauding Japanese army.

The family managed to sail to Australia and when the war was over, returned to Ipoh, where their home, 1 Jalan Tambun, had been used as a Kempetai headquarters for interrogation and torture.

Iversen set up home and office in the Eastern Hotel in Ipoh before the family moved into their new home, at 110, Jalan Tambun. Iversen retired in 1966, but before he left the land which he loved, he made a final journey, by car, to say goodbye to the people and the land which he helped to build.

Horrified by the pace of unchecked development and the destruction of many of Malaysia’s fine old buildings, including those which her father built, Ruth made it her mission to record and publish the correspondence between her mother and father as well as his sketches and personal anecdotes in a book entitled Iversen: Architect of Ipoh and Modern Malaya.

Earlier this year, she traveled to Malaysia to start the book tour, with launches in Penang and Ipoh. The final event, in Kuala Lumpur, was hosted by the British High Commissioner.

Ruth said, “The KL launch was magical and it was held at the Residence of the British High Commissioner. Her Excellency Victoria Treadell is an Ipoh girl. Her father Rex Jansz was at Grenier’s, in Station Road, where my father also had an office.

“Vicki’s mother was Chinese and a great seamstress. She made my wedding dress in 1962. Vicki went to school in England, and later joined the Foreign Office. Her first posting, when she was 21-years-old, was to the British Embassy in Pakistan, where she worked in my husband Philip’s Immigration Section.”

Ruth has had two launches in London. The first was hosted by the eminent British architect, Sir Terry Farrell, along with Ruth’s publisher, Khoo Salma Nasution from Areca books, and members of the well established families of Penang and Ipoh. Other Malaysian personalities included the Oxford based harpsichordist, Dr. Ng Kah-Ming, the curator for South East Asian Studies at the British Library, Dr. Annabel Teh Gallop, and people from Ipoh and Penang who are interested in the preservation of Malaysian heritage and culture.

During Ruth’s talk at the Malaysian High Commission, the audience were treated to clips from Iversen’s home cine reels, showing the family at home, Ruth’s mother helping to supervise piling works, her father at his desk and photos of some of the homes that Iversen built.

Ruth expressed regret that Ipoh is no longer the cleanest and most beautiful city in Malaysia.

Although it has taken seven years for the book to come to fruition, Ruth should be proud that the name Iversen is as solid as the houses he once built. A fitting tribute to B M Iversen would be for the Ipoh City Council, to name a major road after him.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.