Hotel Penaga
Six Straits townhouses restored to UNESCO-award standard by architect Jimmy Lim
About the Property
Hotel Penaga is a conservation award-winning compound of six interconnected 1910s–1920s Straits Settlement townhouses on the quiet corner of Hutton Lane and Transfer Road, restored by architect Jimmy Lim with a rigorous sensitivity to original fabric. The project retained original lime-plaster facades, hand-painted Minton encaustic tiles, timber jalousies, and traditional air-well courtyards while discreetly integrating contemporary amenity — a balance recognised with a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Its thirty-five rooms are each individually designed, and the lush planted courtyards provide a rare sense of seclusion inside the UNESCO core zone.
Original Purpose
Residential Compound
Highlights
History Timeline
Penang enters the Straits Settlements; the Hutton Lane and nearby streets attract prosperous Straits Eclectic townhouse construction as George Town expands inland from the waterfront.
Six Arts and Crafts-influenced townhouses are built on the residential compound, reflecting the Straits Eclectic style that blends British colonial, Malay, and Chinese decorative elements.
During the Japanese occupation the compound is requisitioned for military use, with the interconnected townhouses serving administrative functions for the occupying forces.
Following Malayan independence the compound returns to private residential use, housing multiple families across the six townhouses throughout the post-independence decades.
George Town UNESCO inscription prompts celebrated Malaysian architect Jimmy Lim to undertake a sensitive conservation restoration of the six-townhouse compound.
Hotel Penaga opens and receives the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation, recognising the exceptional quality of the restoration of the interconnected compound.