GEORGE TOWN, Jan 4 — Visitors wandering around the inner city often admire the terraced pre-war heritage houses there.
Some have been turned into restaurants or cafes, while others have become guesthouses but quite a number have been restored and made into private homes.
Now you too can have a chance to live for a few days or longer in one of these magnificent buildings.
Located right across from popular inner city boutique hotel, Muntri Mews, is its sister hotel — Muntri Mews Residences.
Newly opened, this new addition to hotelier extraordinaire Christopher Ong’s line-up of boutique hotels in George Town offers up a unique experience of living in an actual pre-war 120-year-old shophouse.
The double-storey shophouse may not look like much from the front but behind the wooden door is 5,000 sq ft of tastefully furnished space with a total four rooms.
These are not your standard hotel rooms but large spacious rooms with grand four poster beds, Nyonya-style antique furniture and fittings.
Upon entering the house on the ground floor, guests are greeted by a grand room complete with a long dining table and seating reminiscence of the old days.
Leading off from the room is the first of three open air courtyards within the house — a common feature of many of the pre-war shophouses for ventilation and lighting purposes — and next to it is an inviting sitting room of comfortable sofas complete with fluffy throw pillows.
According to Ong, he wants to create spaces for guests to be able to relax and soak in the environment amidst the bare brick walls and greenery of the courtyard gardens.
“What we want to offer is a unique accommodation experience in George Town so that guests don’t only come here to look at the heritage shophouses but also get to stay in and experience them,” he said.
Muntri Mews Residences, unlike Muntri Mews, offers large family rooms of about 600 sq ft each that are big enough to fit in up to five people for families and groups of friends travelling together.
There are three large family rooms and one standard room for two in the house and the whole house can also be rented; it can accommodate up to 16 people for house parties such as weddings and engagements.
In wanting to let more visitors experience the beautifully restored shophouse from within, Ong said he has kept the rates affordable and similar to that for Muntri Mews.
“What we are offering is the experience of living in the heart George Town and in an actual heritage shophouse much like visitors would want to live in the riads in Morocco, ryokans in Japan or the Balinese village house in Bali,” he said.
Muntri Mews Residences opened its doors on a weekend when room nights were high in demand — on November 16 — and has been in high demand ever since.
Muntri Mews Residences
64, Muntri Street,
10200 George Town, Penang
Tel: 04-2635125 / 04-2636125
