The Exchange 106 officially M’sia’s tallest building; other buildings that held the title

Standing at 492m, the Exchange 106 skyscraper located at Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) has officially dethroned the Petronas Twin Towers as the tallest building in Malaysia.

When the Petronas Twin Towers was completed in 1998, the iconic 88-storey office towers were the world’s tallest buildings until 2004, when it was dethroned by the Taipei 101 tower.

Although it has been dethroned, it still remains the tallest twin towers in the world.

The Exchange 106 also stands as the tallest building in Southeast Asia.

It has dethroned the region’s previous champion, Vietnam’s Landmark 81 project, which is 469.5m tall.

All this dethroning had us thinking, what were the other tallest buildings in Malaysia prior to the Petronas Twin Towers?

So we did some digging, and here’s what we found.

In reverse chronological order, all the tallest buildings Malaysia has ever had (before Petronas Twin Towers).

1. Maybank Tower (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 244m

Floors: 50

Years as tallest: 1988 – 1998 (10 years)

2. KOMTAR Tower (Penang)

Height: 232m

Floors: 65

Years as tallest: 1985 – 1988 (3 years)

When the KOMTAR Tower was built, it was the tallest building in Asia.

Later, in 2015, more floors were added to the building raising it to 249m, the height at which it currently stands.

3. Dayabumi Complex (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 157m

Floors: 36

Years as tallest: 1984 – 1985 (1 year)

4. Menara KH (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 152m

Floors: 36

Years as tallest: 1983 – 1984 (1 year)

Menara KH, previously known as Menara Promet, was the first tower in KL to have a full glass curtain wall.

5. Menara Bank Muamalat (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 133m

Floors: 33

Years as tallest: 1978 – 1983 (5 years)

6. Crowne Plaza Mutiara KL (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 123m

Floors: 36

Years as tallest: 1973 – 1978 (5 years)

The building was unfortunately demolished in 2015

7. UMBC Building (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 102m

Floors: 28

Years as tallest: 1971 – 1973 (2 years)

8. Bangunan Parlimen (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 77m

Floors: 20

Years as tallest: 1963 – 1973 (2 years)

9. Bangunan Lee Yan Lian (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 73m

Floors: 18

Years as tallest: 1960 – 1963 (3 years)

10. Sultan Ibrahim Building (Johor Bahru)

Height: 60m

Years as tallest: 1942 – 1960 (18 years)

11. Sultan Abdul Samad Building (Kuala Lumpur)

Height: 41m

Years as tallest: 1897 – 1942 (45 years)

12. Menara Condong (Teluk Intan, Perak)

Height: 25m

Floors: 3

Years as tallest: 1885 – 1897 (12 years)

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