Exploring the Foo Tye Sin Mansion
Light Street, Penang
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The Foo Tye Sin Mansion is one of the first non-European mansions to be erected along Light Street. Until the time it was built, around the mid 19th Century, Light Street was the preserve of the European elite. Foo Tye Sin was one of three Chinese tycoons who were given the honour of sitting on the Commission of Inquiry into the 1867 Penang Riots. Foo Tye Sin, whose name today graces Tye Sin Street, is one of those newly rich, British-educated Chinese. Foo Tye Sin was born in Penang and educated at the Penang Free School. His business partner was Koh Seang Tat, who built the Koh Seang Tat Fountain beside the Penang Town Hall. Together, they were two of the three Chinese Justices of the Peace in 1874.
Foo Tye Sin Mansion today houses a local bank.
Although the colonial administrators think of him as a Hai San sympathiser, he was nevertheless the only non-partisan Chinese at a ceasefire conference called by Lt. Governor Anson at the height of the Larut war.
A charming feature of the Foo Tye Sin Mansion is the fourth storey lookout tower at the back, today unused. The mansion itself has since been converted to house a branch of a local bank.
Side of the Foo Tye Sin Mansion where the 4th storey lookout tower is visible.
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