Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion is a government gazetted heritage building located on Leith Street in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.

[1] Built by the merchant Cheong Fatt Tze at the end of the 19th century, the mansion has 38 rooms, 5 granite-paved courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 vernacular timber louvre windows.

The mansion is eclectic, but mainly reflects Chinese architectural styles of the Imperial Period with some European elements such as louvered windows and metal balustrades.

[3] 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 Nouveau stained glass windows.

The mansion was purchased from Cheong Fatt Tze's descendants in 1989 by a group of local Penang individuals to save the edifice from encroaching development and possible demolition.