Street Stories: Victoria Street

Official name: Lebuh Victoria
English name: Victoria Street
Hokkien name: 海墘新路 Hái-kinn-sin-lōo (New road by the waterfront)

Story of the street

Until the mid 19th century, the area where Victoria Street is located was coastal mudflats with wooden piers running down to the sea. A land reclamation project was then implemented between 1880 and 1904 that created new land which extend outwards from Beach Street. It provided new land which was developed into the Chinese Trades Neighbourhood, a precinct of wholesalers and warehouses belonging to the Chinese community.

Before the land reclamation, the properties facing Beach Street enjoyed an extended space and view all the way to the sea. However, when Victoria Street was built and completed, their sea view was blocked.

Several significant heritage buildings faced such situation. For instance, the Har Yang Sit Teik Tong Yeoh Kongsi and the Boon San Tong Khoo Kongsi used to have its building facing the sea.

Significant Buildings

Bangunan UAB

Bangunan UAB is one of the significant colonial building that was erected in the 1930s in the Art Deco style. It is one of two buildings flanking the Victoria Street junction of China Street Ghaut of the same design. The other is Bangunan Wawasan.

Bangunan UAB was firstly used by the Indian Overseas Bank which opened in Penang in July 1937. In 2016, it was renovated and used as Khazanah Nasional’s Penang office.

Har Yang Sit Teik Tong Yeoh Kongsi

The Yeoh Clan Association was founded in 1836 in order for the clansmen with the surname of Yeoh to have a place of worship to their patron deities, Sye Thow Kong and Poe Seng Tai Tay. It is also an organisation to gather the clansmen and to look after their welfare.

The clan temple building dates back to 1841. At the time when it was built, the temple was located right at the waterfront with its own pier. However, land reclamation towards the second half of the 19th century created the Victoria Street, and added new land in front of the building across the street.

Most part of the building was well preserved until today except that the stage was destroyed during the Second World War, and was subsequently demolished.

Boon San Tong Khoo Kongsi

Boon San Tong Khoo Kongsi is one of the two Khoo Kongsi clan temples in heritage George Town. Built in 1878, it actually predates the more famous Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi. Boon San Tong is the ancestral temple of the Khoo subclan known as the Hai Kee Kak.

When it was built, Boon San Tong’s entrance was through a passageway from Beach Street. Before the land reclamation that created the Victoria Street, the clan temple commanded a good view of the sea. However in 1907, when the land reclamation has been completed, the entrance to the temple was changed to the newly created street.