Tag: historical

Penang Street Art (Queen Street Goldsmith)

Queen St Art
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.

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

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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

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.

Cecil Street

Penang Isle: Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Centre

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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

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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.

Penang Isle: Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

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Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion is a historical and cultural rich building located along Leith Street in George Town, Penang. A winner of multiple historical and heritage awards including the ‘Most Excellent project’ Award at the UNESCO Heritage Awards 2000, the blue mansion is one of the most visited and a definite tourist destination in Penang. The mansion is said to be one of the two of its kind outside China which also features architecture design of both Chinese and Western influences. The mansion was built by a famous Chinese merchant in 1880s named Cheong Fatt Tze and it has 38 rooms, 5 granite-paved courtyards, 7 staircases with 220 vernacular timber louvre windows.

The mansion now serves as both a museum (with guided group tours) and a boutique hotel at the heart of Penang’s heritage zone. There is a daily guided heritage tours of the house in English (11am / 1.30pm / 3pm) with an admission fee RM 12 per person. For more information, please visit its official page HERE.