VERY few pre-war and pre-1900 buildings remain in Asian cities now. China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok have almost completely rebuilt their cities and replaced their architectural legacies with concrete blocks prevalent worldwide.

However, in Penang, thanks to stringent rent-control laws imposed by the British before they left in 1957 and lifted only in 2000, Penang lives in a colonial-imposed time warp and a melting-pot culture.

Awarded Unesco World Heritage listing in 2008 for its contributions to culture and architecture, George Town is now a thriving heritage city. 

Penang’s architectural heritage is one of the finest in Southeast Asia and the island is thought to have the largest collection of traditional shophouses in one location. Everywhere in George Town, the capital of Penang, and the rest of the island, the dominant form of pre-1960s buildings exists in shophouses with design style that has evolved over nearly 200 years.

The design of the Penang shophouses originates from Southern China. However, Stamford Raffles was largely responsible for the distinctive regular facades that are richly designed with decorative elements influenced by the different cultures.  

It is normally a two- or three-storey building with a “five-foot way” in front that provides an open arcade and sheltered walkway. The shophouses are usually multifunctional, where businesses and family trades are done on the ground floor and the families live on the upper floors.

Many of these shophouses are built with the quirks of time, having a variety of quaint defects, such as sinking floors and crooked beams. Many owners have kept their characters, presenting them as they have been lived in, not as some modern-day version.

Most of Penang’s businesses are still conducted in these traditional buildings, from ironmongery to car repair, retail shops to some that are converted to pubs, trendy cafes and boutique hotels. – December 26, 2017.