Stanley Edward Jewkes

Stanley Edward Jewkes (1913–2011) was an American architect as well as an engineer. He was a key figure in Southeast Asian post-independence architecture. His close relationship with Malaysia's then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman led to his getting several prominent architectural commissions in Malaysia including for Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara. He practiced in Malaysia from 1941 until 1962. He then continued to work in the United States for a multi-national architectural and engineering practice.

Early life Jewkes was born in the United States on the 9th of October, 1913. After World War I, he and his parents travelled to Birmingham and there, he won a scholarship to study at Dudley Grammar School. At Northampton Institute and the London Polytechnic, he studied architecture and engineering before being hired as the chief engineer of British Steel Construction. He was associated with both the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as well as the Institute of Civil Engineers in London.

In 1941, Jewkes came to Malaysia to join the Public Works Department (PWD). He served first in the districts of Krian and Keroh. He was then asked to become the head of the new Design and Research Branch. Subsequently, Jewkes became the Director of the Public Works Department from 1959 to 1962. Soon after coming to Malaysia, war broke out in the peninsula and he was made a lieutenant in the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force. In 2001, he compiled and published his philosophical rumination about his life in relation to his own encounters in a book named “Humankind: Planet Earth’s Most Enigmatic Species”.

Buildings Of the many buildings that he had designed and/or engineered, his most famous works are located at the Petaling Hill.