GEORGE TOWN, March 11 — The Penang Appeals Board today dismissed Mayfair Condominium management corporation’s appeal against a proposed 13-storey hotel behind a heritage building along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.
The board, chaired by Datuk Yeo Yang Poh, found the appeal by the management of the 29-storey luxury condominium that the project will be disharmonious with the buildings along the road to be “hollow and cynical” especially with the condominium’s history.
“The city council already allowed the 29-storey condominium (Mayfair) to be built there and the environment along the road has been commercial in recent years so it is not reasonable to deprive Bayview Hotel Sdn Bhd of equal treatment,” he said when delivering his decision today.
He further added that the proposed development will preserve the heritage building, Soonstead Mansion, so it would not affect the building in any way.
“If the proposed development is disharmonious with the heritage building, even a six-storey building will be equally disharmonious,” he said.
The appellant, Mayfair Condominium management corporation, represented by Datuk Lakhbir Singh, had appealed for the height of the proposed hotel to be reduced to six storeys.
The proposed 13-storey hotel, with 97 rooms, was to be built behind Soonstead Mansion.
Lakhbir said the appeal was more for public interest due to the heritage value of the building.
“We are not against development, we are concerned that the proposed development will overshadow the architecture of the heritage building,” he said.
He said adding another high-rise building along the road, which was known as Millionaires’ Row, will destroy the visual impact of the row of posh mansions along the road.
Daphne Choy, who represented Bayview Hotel Sdn Bhd, argued that the appellant’s own high-rise building had already tainted, ruined and irrevocably changed the skyline, roofscape and character of the street.
“The appellant appeals emotively to preserve what it claims to be the character and history of the street and Soonstead and in doing so appears to be suffering from selective amnesia and is in denial of the history of its own land use,” she said.
Soonstead Mansion is one of the grand heritage mansions along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, which is often known as Penang’s “Millionaires’ Row” with a waterfront.
Soonstead Mansion, originally called Northam Lodge, was built by a prominent architect — James Stark — in 1911 for the rubber and sugar planter Heah Swee Lee.
The house was a focus of George Town’s high society and during a housewarming party, the Straits Settlements Legislative Councillor AR Adams congratulated the owner on his “splendid domicile” and the architect on the “excellent results.”
Its beautiful architecture was soon emulated by other mansions such as Lim Lean Teng’s Woodville which is also along the same stretch and Choong Lye Hock’s mansion along Macalister Road.
Four years ago, Bayview Hotel Sdn Bhd, submitted an application to demolish a portion of the mansion to build the hotel with a multilevel carpark.
This sparked an online petition by heritage watchdog, Penang Heritage Trust (PHT), to stop the demolition and finally, the developer agreed not to demolish any portion of the heritage building.
The “Millionaires Row” where Soonstead is located was where rich plantation owners, the British and tycoons made their homes between the late 1800s to the early 1900s.
Set among lush greenery and overlooking the sea, there are about 20 of these luxurious homes built along the tree-lined street.
More than 20 years ago, PHT launched an almost similar campaign to save Metropole Hotel, another heritage mansion along the same row, where Mayfair Condominium is located.
However, the mansion, also known as Asdang House, was illegally and furtively demolished on Christmas day of 1993.
The developer of Mayfair Condominium was fined and ordered to rebuild the heritage building but only a façade was built under the towering high-rise building.
