The Blue Mansion - As blue as blue can be

 

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion aka Blue Mansion

impressive gateway into mansion

Blue Mansion on Lebuh Leith

 

view from Cititel hotel, a 10-minute walk away

view from carpark of Red Garden

Cheong Fatt Tze was a Chinese Hakka merchant who had a vast trading business in Southeast-Asia. He was known as the "Rockefeller of the East." He had many homes in the region. One of them was the mansion on Lebuh Leith. Penang.

A beautifully restored and conserved building, the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion was built in the late 19th century.  The facade of the mansion has a distinctive blue colour. Hence, the name Blue Mansion. The blue colour comes from the dye of the indigo plant.

The mansion was constructed with advice of feng shui masters. The front of the mansion faces the water (i.e. sea) and the back was built on higher ground. On 1 side of the central courtyard, there are 2 steps and on the opposite side, the 3 steps indicate that the posterior part of the mansion is higher. The central point in the courtyard cuts the building symmetrically. Rainwater collects in the roof gutters and pipes channel the water down to the floors to meander underneath before flowing outdoors. Favourable feng shui conditions indeed for the owner.

 The architecture of the mansion is stunning. Some interesting features are the glazed tiled roof and decorative wall features adorned with cut ceramic, the ingeniously crafted louvered shutter windows, the elaborately wrought ironwork from Scotland and the Art-Nouveau stained glass windows specially crafted by artisans from China and painstakingly restored by a local artisan trained in Germany.

The mansion was featured in a French movie, 'Indochine', featuring Catherine Deneuve and the 'Blue Mansion' directed by Singaporean Glen Goei. I remember watching 'Blue Mansion' a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it. Interesting movie.

Blue Mansion is a museum and boutique hotel. Tours are conducted 3 times throughout the day - 11am, 1.30pm and 3 pm. Ticket price - RM12.