The House of Koh Lay Huan

Private House Visit, Thursday, 18 April 2013

The House of Koh Lay Huan is now a private family home. This important historical house was opened for its first house tour in April 2013.

Special World Monuments Day Tour- Thursday April 18th 2103side02

Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson walked the groups through her restored home- The House of Koh Lay Huan- and then shared the process of her art & design work. These included the processes that involve her book illustrations for her first children’s book, ‘Natu the Chichak’ in the ‘House of Lizards’ series, as well as her Malaysia inspired designs for her Owen Rebecca Designs & her more recent paintings.

Rebecca answered questions about the restoration of No 25 China Street, her work, lifestyle and the factors that inspire her current artwork.

China Tiger is located on China Street in the heart of George Town in the middle of Penang’s Little India. It is the private home of Rebecca and David Wilkinson, and your hosts. The house was purchased in late 2005 in a sad state of disrepair. Dating back to the mid 1800’s and built by a prominent Chinese merchant, it had fallen in on itself and had been set on fire. It was full of rubble, and vegetation had overtaken the whole site. Despite this it had a huge amount of charm and offered 2 large inner courtyards, entrances at front and rear, and over 10,000 square feet of living space. Visitors to George Town are constantly requesting entrance and this has led to the decision to start a formal tour of the house. The Wilkinsons welcomed the groups into the family home and shared the story of the past owners of this property as well as the restoration process.

The past owners of No 25 China street are a fascinating list of people and they were huge contributors to the history & development of George Town & the region.