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Persiaran Gurney, George Town

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The St Joseph's Novitiate is a heritage building on grounds bordered to the north by Gurney Drive and south by Kelawai Road. Previously, it was part of the St Joseph's Training College that stood next to the original College General complex. (The College General moved to its present site on Mount Miriam in 1984; its former site on Gurney Drive is now occupied by Gurney Plaza.)

The College General as well as the St Joseph's Training College are seminaries founded by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (a.k.a. the Christian Brothers, the Lasallian Brothers, the French Christian Brothers, or the De La Salle Brothers), a Roman Catholic religious teaching order that pioneered education of the masses in Malaya as well as elsewhere in the world.

The site at Pulau Tikus area which came to be associated with the order was acquired by the De La Salle Brothers in 1916 for a novitiate - quarters for novices - and a training college. The St Joseph's Training College buildings originally directly faced the sea along North Beach as Gurney Drive did not exist yet. St Joseph's functioned as a teacher's training college for those who wished to teach in the missionary schools set up by the La Salle Brothers.

Among the mission schools established are the St Xavier's Institution and Convent Light Street in Penang, St Michael's Institution in Ipoh and St Joseph's Institution (nowadays the Singapore Art Museum) in Singapore.

The St Joseph's Novitiate building is a two-storey structure that was added in 1925. A chapel occupies the upper floor. It has lovely stained-glass windows, and the statue of Mary trampling a serpent. On the outer wall facing Gurney Drive is the inscription in Latin, ANNO SANCTO MCMXXV, meaning Holy Year 1925, the year it was completed.

After the De La Salle Brothers vacated the Gurney Drive premises in the early 1980s, the site was taken over by the International School of Penang (Uplands). In December 2004, Hunza Properties (Penang) Sdn Bhd bought this parcel of land for RM97.86mil from the De La Salle Brothers, with the intention of putting up high rise retail and residential units on it. In the middle of 2006, the international school - which had only been leasing the land and the St. Joseph's Novitiate building, as opposed to having purchased it outright - moved out of the area and relocated to Batu Ferringhi.


Acknowledgement
AsiaExplorers wishes to thank Rebecca Wilkinson for arranging the photoshoot and documentation, and to Yvonne Teh of Heritage Asia for reviewing the content of this travel feature.

Further Reading

Learn about the early history of the Eurasians and the Roman Catholics in Penang through the following pages in Penang Travel Tips:
  1. Church of the Immaculate Conception
    This is the church that began as a chapel that the Eurasians established back in 1835.

  2. St Chastan Monument
    Monument to one of the two teachers at College General who was martyred in Korea, beatified in 1925 and canonised in 1984.

  3. St Joseph's Novitiate
    The St Joseph Training College that was once next to College General, now the site of Gurney Paragon.

  4. Church of the Assumption
    Church built by the first wave of Eurasians that came over with Father Arnaud-Antoine Garnault at the invitation of Captain Francis Light.

  5. Penang Eurasian Association
    Association of the small community of Eurasians in Penang, based at their former settlement in Pulau Tikus.

  6. Pulau Tikus
    District that was formerly comprised a Eurasian and a Burmese/Thai village, today an upscale suburb of George Town.

Visiting Penang

If you're planning a trip to Penang, please go through the information I have assembled in Penang Travel Tips. You'd find there information covering all aspect about Penang, including accommodation, transport, food, shopping, places of interest and more. Everything you need to know Penang is right there at your finger tips!


The altar at the St Joseph's Novitiate, at Gurney Drive, Penang.



View of the seminary building from the outside, bordered by a wall of skyscrapers.



The wall of the novitiate with the inscription, ANNO SANCTO MCMXXV.



View of the chapel from the window at the room above. At the time this photograph was taken, the Uplands School was packing up to move out of the premises.



Close up on the altar.



Statue of the Virgin Mary trampling the serpent.
Statue of St. Joseph with the infant Jesus.




Stained glass over the altar depicting a scene in which the shepherds go and pay homage to the infant Jesus.



St John Baptist de la Salle, the Patron Saint of Education.
The Archangel Michael.

The angel Gabriel.
Brother Solomon.

National Shrine of the Boy Jesus.


Click for list of Penang Churches




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Penang Travel Tips is researched and written by Timothy Tye, universally known as Tim. The text is the copyright of Timothy Tye, and may not be copied for commercial use or re-published in another website without the author's permission. Information provided is in goodwill and is believed to be correct and up-to-date at time of writing. Photographs on this website are the copyright of the author and may not be reused without prior permission. For commercial licensing of photographs, read the licensing terms.