The Blue Mansion of Penang
Jun 24th, 2009 by Steven
<Canon 50D with Sigma 10-20mm: ISO 125; f/5.6; 1/30 sec>
This was shot at the entrance to the so-called Blue House (or Mansion), located on Leith Street, Penang. More popularly referred to as Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, this UNESCO Heritage site once covered an area of 56,000 sq ft including the garden, servant quarters and kitchen. The mansion, completed in 1898, has 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows … obviously designed and built with feng shui elements in mind for yin-yang balance.
As the name suggests, the mansion was built by Cheong Fatt Tze. At the age of 16, this penniless Hakka lad left his home in Taipu, Guandong - same village as my grandpa - in search of greener pastures in Nanyang. He subsequently married the daughter (the first of his 8 wives and countless mistresses) of a wealthy merchant in Indonesia. Cheong proved to be a special son-in-law with sharp business acumen and entrepreneurship. BTW Cheong’s favourite was wife No. 7 who sired his last and youngest son.
The Blue Mansion was Cheong’s favourite residence and the base of his business empire - he also had homes in Singapore and Indonesia, not forgetting the one in China. He’d decreed that mansion was not to be sold until the death of his last son. His youngest son was 2 years old when he died at the age of 76 in 1916. It is said that Cheong was on his was his way to the USA by ship with US5 million in hand to conclude a shipping-related venture when he fell ill and died.
When his last son died in 1989, the mansion was in a terrible state. A group of conservationists bought the mansion with the intention to restore it to its grandeur. The restoration work cost a cool US$2 million. A blue compound was intentionally added to the masonry work for the front facade, apparently to attract attention of passers-by, lol.
You can get more info into the man himself and his majestic mansion at www.cheongfatttzemansion.com, here and here. Guided tours of the mansion are conducted daily at 11am and 3pm @ RM12 per pax and RM6 for kids 12 years and below. Photography inside the mansion is strictly forbidden; visitors would be asked to leave if found breaking this rule.