Tag: historical
Penang Isle: Eastern & Oriental Hotel
Located at the UNESCO Heritage zone of George Town, Eastern & Oriental Hotel is a luxury hotel established in 1885 during the British colonial times by four Armenian brothers, the Sarkies. Having survived over a century to this day, the hotel is claimed to have been visited by famous people such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Hermann Hesse. Eastern & Oriental Hotel is located along Farquhar Street, George Town.
George Town Street View: An Empty Trishaw
Once a common local public transportation, these bipedal ‘taxis’ now only serve as tourist transportation around George Town.
Penang Street Art (Queen Street Goldsmith)
A steel rod art sculpture showing a caricature of a traditional Indian goldsmiths who used to set up stalls (by working on a bench) along Queen Street back in the old days.
Passing by the Kuan Yin Temple
A trishaw approaching the old Kuan Yin Temple.
JALAN MASJID KAPITAN KELING (Formerly Pitt Street)
Shophouses and street view of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (translated as Kapitan Keling Mosque Street) or formerly known as Pitt Street. The street was named after the Kapitan Keling Mosque. The mosque where this street was named after is can be found located near the southern end of the street.
German Heritage Trail in Penang
A vintage looking sign with the German inscription “Deutscher Kulturerbe-Pfad in Penang” at Logan Heritage building.
The German community’s history in Penang is recognised with the launch of the German Heritage Trail in 2012, where it will highlight more than 10 sites in George Town with a number of signboards. The initiative was also sponsored by the German Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. It was said that before the World War I, the German-speaking community arguably formed the second largest European trading community in Penang after the British. Each signboard will document the German heritage of the site in Bahasa Malaysia, English and German.
George Town Street View: Cecil Street
Cecil Street (or Lebuh Cecil) is one of the streets located at an area known as the Seven Streets Precinct, a working class neighborhood. The street was named after Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, the Governor of the Straits Settlements back then. The street is also locally known as the “7th road” in Chinese Hokkien.
Penang Isle: Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Centre
The Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Centre is located at Macalister Road, George Town and is housed within the Penang Philomatic Union building (also the building’s former name). It was said that the Penang Philomatic Union was founded by a political party supporting Dr Sun Yat-sen (the founder of Republic of China) in 1908, and had provided some of the staunchest supporters of his cause for a Free World. Dr Sun Yat-sen also reportedly conducted his first speech in Penang at this building.
The Northam Lodge
This elaborated European inspired mansion is located at the Northam Road (or Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) in George Town.
This beautiful mansion was built by a famous architect named James Stark back in the year 1911 for Heah Swee Lee, a wealthy and successful rubber and sugar planter. The mansion was a symbol of George Town’s high society back then and even Straits Settlements Legislative Councillor A. R. Adams praised the owner for his “splendid domicile” and the architect on the “excellent results.
The mansion was originally named Northam Lodge before a subsequent change of ownership and was later renamed as Soonstead Mansion.