BLUE MANSION STRAWBERRY HILL HOUSE inventing a new tradition
by elly yao
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THE BLUE MANSION 14 Leith Street, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
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The Blue Mansion, built by the famous merchant and politician Cheong Fatt Tze in late 19th century, is a distinct residential unit in the Penang Area known by its rich indigo-blue exterior walls. Located in George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the area is well known for the hybrid and eclectic architecture style, such as shophouses and worshiping centers of different religions were largely populated during the British colonial period along with neighboring cities like Malacca and Singapore. The owner and the creator of this unique building, Mr. Cheong Fatt Tze also called Chang Pi-Shih, managed to negotiate and benefit from the power conflicts between Southeast Asia, Mainland China, and the western intruders, accumulated enormous amount of wealth and fame throughout his whole life. He was named “first capitalist and the last mandarin” of China, and “Rockefeller or J. P. Morgan of the East” by foreign media when he visited the United States in the last few years of his life. Originated from Guandong province of China, he started with trading foreign goods as an entrepreneur in Penang region, later on branched to new industries introduced by the West like banking and establishing wineries. He was respected by both the Chinese and British government because of his exceptional vision and the ability of balancing and blending traditions with new ideas, and this bold concept is also well reflected in his residence, the Blue Mansion.
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ENTRY
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Although Mr. Cheing Fatt Tze had many residences around Southeast Asia, the one in Georgetown, Penang was the most important to him where he also housed his favorite wife and used as an office. The Blue Mansion is a paradigm of southern Chinese houses dating back to 1000 BC, two stories high with courtyards and was built in stages. It has one main hall with bridges connect to two side wings, a common style seen in Hakka-Teochew buildings. Although Mr. Cheong was a visionary, he was still a traditionalist in many ways; therefore the overall arrangement of the house was highly influenced by Chinese Feng-shui, which focuses on balancing the unseen energy floating around spaces in order to create better luck and fortune for the family. In Chinese culture, a family residence is supposed to be pass down from generation to generation; construction of a house usually begins with the main hall then side wings are added on later, expansion for more family residents happen when layers of wings are also attached. The main hall represents Heaven on Earth, therefore wooden tablets with past ancestors’ name or statues of gods are placed in the hall to be worshiped and first seen when you enter the residence. However for the Blue Mansion, maintenance and construction of the house stopped almost right after the original owner pass sed away.
COURTYARD
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DECOR
A traditionalist with an open mind and broad vision for the We its owner the Blue Mansion is an elegant result of cross-cultura erences and collective idea exchange. The influences of worldw ing and western aesthetic are mostly seen in decorative elemen details of the building, including some regional inspirations. Th blue paint used on the walls was made from a plant-based dye imported from India by the British trading company , to cover up the white color lime-wash underneath. Limewash is particularly effective for the hot and humid tropical weather around the region, however the natural color tone white is associated with dead and generally used in funerals in Chinese believes hence covering it up was necessary for well being of the household. With his fascination and adoration of Western arts and crafts, Mr. Cheong input many special features around the house, which also indicateed the strong connection between him and the Western world as a Chinese official and cultural representative. These decorative elements are usually combined with traditional Chinese contents such as Glasgow cast-iron balusters with Cantonese wooden frameworks; Art Nouveau style stained glass with colorful Chien-Nien porcelain ornamentation; Chinese calligraphy pieces in contrast with trompe l’oeil wall painting details.
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est, like al refwide tradnts and he rich
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STRAWBERRY HILL HOUSE 268 Waldegrave Rd, Twickenham U. K.
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Strawberry Hill House was the residence or family castle of the English writer, politician, and designer Horace Walpole. The structure was built in 1749 in Twickenhem, displaying Horace’s personal view on a new architecture or decorative style and later on was widely suggested as the birth place or start point of 19TH century Gothic Revival movement. Unlike Mr. Cheong Fatt Tze, he was born with a powerful background and raised with wealth. If the Blue Mansion was a symbol or proof of rising social status through personal achievement and hard-working spirit, the Strawberry Hill was more like a gathering of private interests and artistic innovation on a particular style. Both reflect the individuality of its owners well inside and out. The house was also built in stages; mainly focus on adding more gothic style features into the existing structure. Besides exterior towers and castellation, the intricate and extravagant interior ornamentation were used to indicate Walpole’s goal on creating a “gothic castle” where he could store and display collection of objects and literature of his grand tour, like a gesamtkunstwerk museum; at the same time announcing to the world that this is his perspective on a preferred aesthetic of an educated and elegant man.
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ENTRY
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To begin the construction, Walpole and a few friends with same interests formed the “Strawberry Committee,” where they also called themselves “Committee of Taste.” The reason why many of the art historian considered Strawberry Hill House as the starting point of Gothic Revival is because it was actually designed based on existing historical buildings mainly castles and cathedrals, combing different elements within then gave birth to a brand new eclectic style. Walpole also took references from his gothic novel to design the interior. Though comparing to the Blue Mansion the theme of Strawberry Hill is clearly more unite than hybrid, the interior rooms are brightened up with colors and intricate patterns, and the exterior walls are painted white in contrast with the old style stone or masonry work; which often times give the space or structure a “gloomy” feeling. The mixture of traditional gothic exterior characteristics into the interior is the most celebrated identity of the whole house; entry sequence of the estate is also carefully designed in order to give the viewer a change of atmosphere.
GALLERY
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You first walked into the grey and neutral shade passageways with staircases leading you up to the gallery or long hallway, where velvet red and shining gold give you a bold statement of welcoming. Gothic arches are the main feature for many rooms’ wooden decoration and the basic pattern throughout the whole house, especially in the library where all the bookcases were carved with a sophisticated gothic cathedral façade. Similar to Robert Adam’s design at the same period, the interior walls often have pastel or light color background then overlay with white line works and ornamentation. Walpole himself also got involved in many of the furniture and accessary design to ensure all the items placed in the estate spoke the same language and have gothic elements involved. Another distinct feature was the irregular planning Walpole decided on. Different parts of the building were built in stages without following a symmetrical grid line like the traditional way, which is obvious from the exterior outline to interior room arrangement. Various sizes and shapes of rooms were simply attaching together, creating an un-expectable path or effect for the visitors to explore this fantasy gothic castle of Walpole’s. While Walpole had a very certain view on how the architecture should look like, he was more deliberate about the garden design. He chose the popular modern English picaresque garden for his house because of its simplicity, aiming to create a more natural looking landscape within an artificial setting.
LIBRARY
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REFERENCE “Architecture Design Motif.” The Blue Mansion. Malaysia, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. “Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.” Robert Adam: Dining Room from Lansdowne House, London (32.12). N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. Home, Robert K. Of Planting and Planning: The Making of British Colonial Cities. London: Spon, 1997. Print. Knapp, Ronald G., and A. Chester Ong. Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia: The Eclectic Architecture of Sojourners and Settlers. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2010. Print. Lin Lee, Loh-Lim. The Blue Mansion: The Story of Mandarin Splen dour Reborn. 2nd ed. Malaysia: L’Plan Sdn Bhd, 2007. Print. Snodin, Michael. Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UP, 2009. Print. “Visit Strawberry Hill - Horace Walpole’s Gothic Castle.” Visit Straw berry Hill - Horace Walpole’s Gothic Castle. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. Widodo, Johannes. The Boat and the City: Chinese Diaspora and the Architecture of Southeast Asian Coastal Cities. Singapore: Chi nese Heritage Centre, 2004. Print. Images: Courtesy of Google and Pinterest.
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Thank you!