A Holiday in Georgetown, Penang 2

Posted on Wednesday, 31 January, 2018Wednesday, 31 January, 2018 by Zheluo Cai

A Holiday in Georgetown, Penang 2.

The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion.

The Mansion is at Leith Street in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia. Its indigo-blue outer wall makes it a very distinct building in the area, and it is often popularly referred to as The Blue Mansion. The c. 1880s mansion was built by the merchant Cheong Fatt Tze and have 38 rooms, five granite-paved courtyards, seven staircases and 220 vernacular timber louvre windows. It served as Cheong’s private residence as well as the seat of his business activities. The architecture of the mansion originates from the Su Chow Dynasty Period in China. Features of the house include Gothic louvred windows, Chinese cut and paste porcelain work, Stoke-on-Trent floor tiles made of encaustic clay in geometric pieces all shaped to fit a perfect square, Glasgow cast iron works by MacFarlane’s & Co. and Art Nouveau stained glass windows. The principles of Feng Shui was applied in building the Mansion. In 1989, it was purchased from Cheong Fatt Tze’s descendants by a group of local Penang individuals, to save the edifice from encroaching development and possible demolition. While it remains until now a private residence, the property operates as a 16 Room Bed & Breakfast-cum-museum as part of the adaptive reuse of an ongoing restoration project which has won awards from UNESCO. Tours are offered in English three times a day to central parts of the house. In 2016, a restaurant called ‘Indigo’ opened on the first floor of the mansion.