Articles: EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERRACE

Reference to this article: Early History of the Terrace

New Straits Times, February 19, 2005
by Dr Gwynn Jenkins

Letter to the Editor:

I REFER to your Focus article in PropertyTimes of Feb 12, titled "Evolution of terrace housing".

One of Malaysia's earliest urban settlements, which used brick construction and row terracing, was Georgetown in Penang.

In the English cities of the Georgian era that evolved rapidly during the economic boom of that period, such as Bath, the concept of speculative building in soon-to-be fashionable areas had caught on. Inevitably, speed of construction and economy materials were essential for maximum profit.

Hence, houses were built in rows with shared party walls dividing neighbouring units. Many of them were badly built and the owners now spend many thousands of pounds conserving these "famous" terraces of Bath (so, there's nothing new about speculation and poor quality).

Very soon after the British East India Company set up an administrative base in George Town, Chinese families arrived. They too preferred the economy of shared party walls and introduced rows of shophouses alongside the simple Indian shophouses and European godowns.

The Europeans, like the indigenous Malays, tended to prefer the bungalow housing form. Penang's Little India today clearly identifies the urban shophouse morphology. This building form predominated the streetscape as George Town grew.

However, by early 1900s, after outbreaks of cholera, plague, malaria and small pox, due largely to unsanitary conditions and overcrowding, building ordinances were introduced, following those Britain.

Back lands were created for night soil collection and the houses were set back from the street, behind a garden wall. Built purposefully for housing and not a commercial mix, they became known as the terraced house.

Although the tripartite arrangement of the front door flanked by windows continued and the five-foot ways were habitually incorporated, they were no longer a public walkway. The front garden gave way to the car porch and the five-foot way to overhangs, balconies and other shading devices.

One element which remains prominent, particularly in Penang's terraced house, is the interior layout that was guided by feng shui or vashtu shastra -a clear indication of their roots- that are not found in the Georgian model, from which they only partly share their origins.