Heritage Houses of Penang

Saturday, February 04 2012

PENANG-BASED historian Khoo Salma Nasution recently published a book entitled Heritage Houses of Penang. Read here. This book takes one on a journey through different phases in Penang’s history that culminates into distinctive architectural styles of homes in the state. View slideshow below for photos from this book.

Referring to the evolution of styles over the years, Khoo Salma in the introduction, explains that "Seafaring merchants had come to trade in Penang under British auspices to evade taxes imposed in other ports and the island soon became an emporium of maritime commerce where the rhythms of life waxed and waned with the monsoons…Sensing opportunity and desiring prosperity, they built their homes away from home on this island, bringing with them their traditions and way of life…As cultures of diverse origins were translated into a local milieu, some of the old world was lost and some of the new world was gained. In this meeting places of ‘tribes and nations’ – rich and poor, immigrant and settled – every dwelling place was a statement of identity and intention". (Heritage Houses of Penang, pg 9)

Below are excerpts on some of the famous mansions in Penang from the book:

On Chung Keng Kooi Mansion

Chung Keng Kooi, the leader of a major Chinese ‘secret society’, was co-opted by the British administration and made a Kapitan China of Perak. He prospered as a tin-miner and opium revenue farmer, and became the richest man in Malaya. Around 1895, Chung built a magnificent Chinese townhouse, the Hai Kee (Sea Remembrance Store) , in the middle of the business district of Penang. (pg 75)

On Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Cheong Fatt Tze better known as Zhang Bishi, was a China-born Hakka who made his enormous fortune in the Dutch East Indies and then moved his base to the Straits Settlements. Cheong built a Chinese mansion, of ‘red pillars, green roof’, to reflect his position as a Qing dynasty mandarin and Chinese consul in Penang and Singapore. (pg 87)

On Woodville

Lim Lean Teng, the planter who made his millions in the hinterland of Kedah state, was lionized by the Chinese community in Penang for his largesse to the Penang Teochew community and Han Chiang Chinese School. The austerity of his lifestyle was legendary, but his residence, Woodville, boasts the luxurious grandeur of a French chateau. (pg 102)

On Loke Villa

An incredibly romantic country home with a wide frontage along Penang’s famous coastal promenade, Gurney Drive, the Loke Villa cannot but arouse the curiousity of every passerby. A late adaptation of Arts and Crafts style architecture, this mansion by the sea has the ambience of a country house grandly conceived with two elongated wings splaying out from a central axis – hence its popular name, the ‘Butterfly House'. (pg 110)

On Leong Yin Khean Mansion:

Along the seafront near Eastern and Oriental Hotel is a peach coloured mansion more reminiscent of a Florentine Renaissance than colonial Malaya. (pg 121)

Reference