Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion is something worth to visit when you are in Penang. Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (Malay: Rumah Agam Cheong Fatt Tze) is located at 14 Leith Street, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia.
Here goes our guide for the day who explains to us on the history of the Nobleman Cheong Fatt Tze.
The mansion’s indigo-blue outer wall makes it a very distinct building in the area.
The Circa 1880s mansion built by the merchant Cheong Fatt Tze at the end of 19th century has 38 rooms, 5 granite-paved courtyards, 7 staircases & 220 vernacular timber louvre windows.[1] The architecture of the mansion however originates from the Su Chow Dynasty Period in China.
Other 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 to a perfect square, Glasgow cast iron works by MacFarlane’s & Co. and Art Nouveau48 stained glass windows. The mansion was originally built with careful attention to the principles of Feng Shui.
The domestic annexe is built in front of it to prevent any road being built to create a T-Junction in front of it; it has water running through a meandering network of pipes that begin from the eaves of the roof, channelled through the upper ceiling, down the walls collecting in the central courtyard before being channelled away from the property via a similar network of pipes, in this case, underneath the entire flooring system and is built with a step in the middle to create a slope (to ride on the dragons back).
(from Wikipedia)
It is indeed a great learning during my visit to Cheong Fatt Tze where we had understand each item history, how the noble man comes about and his history and business round the world. I have never knew some of the Chinese Wine consumed by my grand mother in the olden days are made by him too.
In 2000, the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion received the inaugural Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation Award, selected as the ‘Most Excellent Project’ in the Asia Pacific Rim following its RM7.6 milllion restoration works.
How to go there?
By Foot or Taxi
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion is on Lebuh Leith, in between Lebuh Chulia and Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Address:
14, Lebuh Leith, 10200 Georgetown, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
+60 4-262 0006