GEORGE TOWN, March 14 — Standing tall and slightly apart from the other buildings in the neighbourhood — within its own gated compound at the junction of Armenian Street and Acheh Street — is a grand early Straits Eclectic-style mansion sporting a vertical-aligned star and crescent on the front.

The original structure of this upper-class Muslim residence, with European, Indian and Malay influences, is still intact despite it being built almost 150 years ago. Sadly, neglect had left it in a rundown condition for many years.

This is the Syed Al-Attas mansion — once the home of a powerful Achehnese merchant of Arab descent, Syed Mohd Al-Attas, in the mid-19th century (1860s to 1870s).

Syed Mohd Al-Attas was a leader of the Red Flag Society and he was also instrumental in smuggling arms to the Achehnese resistance fighters in the 1870s. They were against the Dutch invasion of Acheh.

The 4,000 sq ft mansion, known as “Rumah Besar” at that time, was not only home to his family but served as the central point where celebrations such as Awal Muharram and the annual boria performances were held.

Despite its significance to the Malay-Muslim enclave in George Town, the mansion was left to decay due to a lack of maintenance and proper care which led to termite infestation, rotten timber flooring, leaking roof and corrupted walls.

“When we took over the tenancy of the building in 2012, it had already been left vacant for a while as it was declared hazardous and closed to the public,” said the Penang Islamic Foundation’s manager Mohd Fitri Ibrahim.

The building had served as a scrap collection yard and a lodging house for Indian Chettiars from the 1930s up to 1993 before the Penang state government rescued it from obscurity and launched a “Syed Alatas Mansion Heritage Development Project.”

Fortunately, the Chettiars had left all of the original architectural design of the mansion, including its elaborate ornamental features of moulded cornices and ornate gilded ceiling roses, mostly intact.

With technical assistance from the French government, the building was fully restored to its former glory and became The Heritage Centre of Penang in 1996, but not for long.

The Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce took over the management of the council-owned building and converted it into the Penang Islamic Museum after conducting some minor renovations on the building in 2002.

The Syed Al-Attas Mansion is more than 150 years old (left). Rotten timber flooring has been replaced at the first floor of the mansion (right)

“The museum closed down several years ago as the building had again deteriorated to the point of being hazardous and it was left vacant until we took over the tenancy,” Mohd Fitri said.

However, due to the mansion being a Category One heritage building whereby all restoration works must be as close as possible to its original structure and materials, it proved an uphill battle for the foundation.

Studies on the extent of the damage to the building was conducted, heritage architects were consulted and the foundation drew up a proper plan for its conservation works so as to fulfil the council’s restoration guidelines for heritage buildings within the UNESCO heritage core zone.

The restoration plan meant a multimillion ringgit bill.

In the midst of restoration...Syed Al-Attas Mansion undergoing a makeover (left). The Syed Al-Attas mansion now sports a brand new coat of paint but there is still a lot of work to be done (right)

“We have trouble getting funding to restore this building as it was initially estimated to cost about RM2 million in 2012 but now, the cost has climbed to about RM4 million,” he said.

The foundation does not have this kind of money but it could not let the building continue to decay so restoration works started in late December last year.

“We will do what we can do for now such as replace the rotten timber floors, get rid of the termites and repair the roof while at the same time, raise funds to pay for the restoration works,” Mohd Fitri said.

The walls already sport a new layer of paint and some of the rotten timber flooring were replaced but there is much work still to be done.

He projected that it will take at least two years to fully restore the building, provided that they raise enough funds to foot the bill.

The plan is to turn the mansion into The Al-Attas Gallery after it is fully restored.

The ornate gilded rose on the ceiling is still intact but parts of the ceiling are leaking and need to be repaired (left). Much of the moulded cornices and the embellishments in the 150-year-old mansion is still intact (right)

The gallery will feature a Haj exhibition as the Acheh Street enclave used to be the gathering point for Muslim pilgrims before they sailed off to Mecca to perform the Haj.

“We also hope to have an Islamic calligraphy academy, a library, an Islamic art education workshop and an Islamic history interpretation centre,” he said.

The Penang Islamic Foundation will be launching a “Save Al-Attas Mansion” fund-raising campaign soon where corporate and individual donors may donate to the “Contribution Wall” for sums of RM10,000 and above or buy-a-brick at RM500 each brick.

Those interested to contribute may call 04-2265821 or send an email to admin@yipp.gov.my.

This story was first published in Crave in the print edition of The Malay Mail on March 13, 2014.