Seri Teratai – Saved from the Ravages of Time and Termites
By Andrea Filmer
August 2019 FEATURE
An archway in the master bedroom has been revealed after the tearing down of an old, built-in cabinet.Commissioned in 1919 for Macalister & Co., Seri Teratai is the official residence of the Chief Minister of Penang.1 Located on Jalan Macalister and initially known as the State Guest House,2 the building was aptly renamed Rumah Tetamu after the country’s independence.Wong Pow Nee – the state’s first chief minister – was the mansion’s first long-term tenant, living in the double-storey structure throughout...
Andrea Filmer
is a freelance journalist who has lived in the US and Australia but, for reasons unknown to herself, finds it impossible to call anywhere but Penang home.
