 Seven Streets Precinct, George Town
The Seven Streets Precinct, or Chit Tiau Lor in Hokkien, is an area in George Town immediately south of the Prangin Canal. This triangular piece of land is anchored by Magazine Circus to the northwest, the junction of Anson Bridge to the northeast, and Sungai Pinang Bridge to the south.
Seven Streets Precinct (25 November 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
For much of the 19th century, the area was a collection of Chinese villages, with Koay Kangnga ("Across the River") being the settlement closest to the Prangin Canal. Beach Street continues south in the form of a country path that meandered along the coast towards the plantations in Gelugor and Batu Lanchang (by the way, "Batu Lanchang" in the 19th century refers to much of what is Green Lane today).
Living in the Seven Streets Precinct area (it wasn't called that yet) were Hokkiens who worshipped at temples such as the Seng Ong Beow Temple, at that time surrounded by mangrove, somewhere between land and sea. The kampung houses within that area were not arranged in any particular order - it is similar to the kampungs we see today, with clusters of houses interrupted by vegetable plots. The settlers, mostly farmers, sent their produce to the Prangin Canal, where they are loaded to boats and distributed elsewhere in town. Similarly, fish and imported goods come in through the canal and are sent to godowns and sundry shops.
Pre-war houses in the Seven Streets Precinct (2 December 2008)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
Penang actually became more prosperous from the 4th quarter of the 19th century, when tin mining in Perak propelled an economic boom which even the repeated clan warfares could not derail. There was an influx of immigrants from China, the poor to work in the tin mines and the harbour - where much workforce was needed to load and unload tin and later rubber, the middle class setting up provision shops and retail businesses, while the upper class owning tin mines and were the main benefactors of the clan associations and builders of ornate clan temples.
The houses within the Seven Streets Precinct that we see today were built around the late 19th century. The burgeoning population induced the development of George Town to spill south across the Prangin Canal. The vegetable farms had to make way for roads. These were quickly laid out as seven parallel streets framed by two main roads, to be named Bridge Street (now Jalan C.Y. Choy) and Brick Kiln Road (now Jalan Gurdwara), and the Prangin Canal at the northern end. The houses that were put up were of bricks, certainly more durable than the attap and wood sheds that they replaced. The seven parallel streets were Magazine Road, Presgrave Street, Tye Sin Street, Macallum Street, Katz Street and Cecil Street. To these were added Peking Road (which is almost disappeared), Nanking Road, Herriot Street and Sandilands Streets. Running right through the Seven Streets Precinct, like a fishbone, is McNair Street.
Shophouse in the Seven Streets Precinct, with Komtar in the background (2 December 2008)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
The Seven Streets Precinct has all along been a working class neighbourhood. Even before the brickhouses were built, it was a no-man's land to the gentrified Baba Nyonyas, a place where clan warfares and triad activities were rampant. So it was until as late as the 1970's and early 80's.
The Seven Streets Precinct was originally earmarked to be included within George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the size of the core and buffer zones were subsequently reduced in area to what it is eventually inscribed.
Location Map of the Seven Streets Precinct
View Seven Streets Precinct in a larger map
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