Wednesday 19 December 2007

Penang heritage: Suffolk House


So this is Suffolk House! For a long while, I've always wanted to know where its location. Suffolk House - where Francis Light used to live. Until the 1970s or so, it was used by the Methodist Boys School as its tuck shop but because the building was becoming dilapidated, it was abandoned.

For many years it was in a bad state of disrepair but it has now been restored to its former glory. Earlier this month, I finally laid my eyes on this building. Although the gate was closed and a guard was on hand to deny any unauthorised entry into the grounds, I could still take this picture through the railing. Suffolk House is mighty grand and I'm just waiting for an occasion that will take me inside it.

1 comment:

pengwynn said...

but Francis Light never lived there - he had a simple local Kampong bungalow on the grounds.
This house was built by W.E.Phillips. The restored house is a reduced version of the original. there were too further bays either side looking from north or south - it was a 13 bay villa as seen in the paintings. These two wings were removed due to instability in the 1830s and sadly what remained of an original inside wall were pulled down in the name of conservation. However, something of the original house remains.