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Built in the
1880s, this famous indigo-blue Chinese Courtyard House
in Georgetown was the residence of Cheong Fatt Tze, a
prominent Chinese figure in the newly established Penang
Straits Settlement during the 19th century. The mansion
was built by master craftsmen brought in especially from
China, who used their skills to fashion the mansion with
38 rooms, 5 granite-paved courtyards, 7 staircases and
220 windows.
Rescued from
the perils of development in the 1990s by a small group
of Heritage preservationists led by Laurence Loh, the
Cheong Fatt Tze mansion possesses splendid Chinese
timber carvings, Gothic louvre windows, russet brick
walls and porcelain cut & paste decorative shard works,
art nouveau stained glass panels, Stoke-on-Trent floor
tiles and Scottish cast iron work. Its layout is based
on feng-shui principles, and filled with rare a
collection of sculptures, carvings, tapestries and other
antiques.
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.
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