Cover The pool-facing facade of 1926 Heritage Hotel in late afternoon light, showing the hotel’s palm and panther motif repeated across the louvred shutters of the upper floor
The pool-facing facade of 1926 Heritage Hotel in late afternoon light, showing the hotel’s palm and panther motif repeated across the louvred shutters of the upper floor
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A century after the British colonial administration built officers’ quarters on Jalan Burma, Office Of_ restores the complex as 1926 Heritage Hotel, returning one of Penang’s most utilitarian colonial building types to active life
Across the former Straits Settlements, the British colonial administration left behind a hierarchy of buildings. The grand black-and-white bungalows of senior officials and the civic ceremony of the government buildings are the most visible remnants today. Less remarked upon is the more prosaic housing stock built for working administrative officers. The buildings on Jalan Burma in George Town are of this type. Put up in 1926 as officers’ quarters, they are two storeys, white-rendered, with a covered timber verandah running the full length of the upper floor and louvred shutters throughout.
Above The full length of the Jalan Burma facade, with the continuous first-floor verandah and terracotta roof tiles intact; the towers of contemporary Penang visible beyond
The full length of the Jalan Burma facade, with the continuous first-floor verandah and terracotta roof tiles intact; the towers of contemporary Penang visible beyond
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Above One of the complex’s secondary blocks, showing the simple white balustrade and deep verandah of the upper floor, with tropical planting at ground level
One of the complex’s secondary blocks, showing the simple white balustrade and deep verandah of the upper floor, with tropical planting at ground level
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Functional responses to equatorial heat and light, they have worn the decades well. In April 2026, a century after they were first built, they reopened as the 1926 Heritage Hotel, part of The Unlimited Collection by The Ascott Limited.
The original date marker on the gabled pediment, with terracotta roof tiles below
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Spirit level
Above The pool terrace at dusk, with the full run of the complex visible behind; contemporary seating in the foreground and the towers of modern Penang beyond
The pool terrace at dusk, with the full run of the complex visible behind; contemporary seating in the foreground and the towers of modern Penang beyond
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When Singapore-based practice Office Of_ took on the restoration, the complex had accumulated a century of additions: partition walls, coats of paint, modifications whose original purposes were no longer legible. The property sits outside George Town’s Unesco Core Zone, though a building of this age on this stretch of the city carries its own conservation weight.
Design director Ng Sze Wee describes the opening phase of the work as peeling back successive layers to understand what the building was originally. Some of what they uncovered felt inseparable from its character. The rest was removed. The masonry walls, timber staircases, wrought-iron balustrades, and most of the facade are original and restored in place. Where elements had deteriorated past saving, the Office Of _ introduced replacements conceived in the same spirit. “Never imitative,” as Ng puts it. He was wary throughout of anything that might tip the project toward period recreation.
A Heritage Garden Patio Room bedroom, with the Penang harbour painting above the bed and the door open to the private patio beyond
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Getting a functioning hotel inside a colonial-era structure meant solving problems the original builders had no reason to anticipate. Air-conditioning, acoustic treatment, blackout systems, discreet technology integrations: the mechanical and technical requirements of contemporary hospitality are considerable, and in a building of this character, each one carries risk. Office Of_ pushed these into the unseen wherever possible, into services and structural decisions that guests would not register.
“The aim was to allow the building to continue speaking in its own voice,” Ng says, “with contemporary layers introduced subtly.” The existing rooms helped. Tall ceilings and deep windows gave the building a spatial scale that needed little adjustment. Ng’s shorthand for the overall approach is restoring a grandfather’s vintage car: you update what has to be updated, and you leave everything else alone.
Above The Straits Suite master bedroom, with the arched original window framing a wall of tropical greenery beyond
Above The original timber-floored verandah of a Colonial King room, with the panelled door and glazed fanlight opening into the bedroom beyond
The Straits Suite master bedroom, with the arched original window framing a wall of tropical greenery beyond
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The hotel has 70 rooms and suites, including a Straits Suite with a separate bedroom, living area, and study, and a ground-floor Heritage Garden Patio Room with a private outdoor patio overlooking the pool. Dining centres on Root House by Gēn, a Chinese bistro from chef Johnson Wong, whose Penang restaurant Gēn re-entered Asia's 50 Best Restaurants this year. The menu draws on the culinary traditions of Malaysia’s Chinese diaspora, tracing how dishes have shifted and adapted across regions over time.
Above The Straits Suite living area, with a red-patterned rug, low coffee table and sofa grouped around the original arched window
Above Original casement windows in the Residency Suite, with hotel robes on a brass rail alongside
The Straits Suite living area, with a red-patterned rug, low coffee table and sofa grouped around the original arched window
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A New Order
The dining room of Root House by Gēn, with dark timber wishbone chairs, marble-topped tables set with Chinese porcelain and chopsticks, and a landscape ink painting visible through the arched passage beyond
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Above U-Bar, with green-upholstered timber armchairs grouped around low tables in the foreground and the full length of the backlit bar behind; a suspended brass rod installation runs the width of the ceiling above
Above The U-Bar counter, showing the backlit spirit shelves, granite bar top and decorative wrought-iron bar front; the brass rod ceiling installation above
U-Bar, with green-upholstered timber armchairs grouped around low tables in the foreground and the full length of the backlit bar behind; a suspended brass rod installation runs the width of the ceiling above
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Where new elements appear in public spaces, they are more understated than the surrounding elements. A straw marquetry wall in the lobby carries the hotel’s palm and panther motif. In the guestrooms, a painting of Penang dating from 1786, made when the island was still called Prince of Wales Island, appears on the headboard. “Rather than foregrounding culture, we chose to let it surface in passing moments,” Ng says, “within artwork, in the detailing of furniture, in familiar forms reinterpreted with restraint.”
The reception area of Sensorium Spa, with a walnut front desk, terracotta sofa and original casement windows; an arched passage leads to the treatment rooms beyond
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“Penang itself is vivid and layered, best experienced directly,” he says. The hotel, by his account, is conceived as a place of pause rather than a survey of the city’s histories. “Beyond its thresholds, the tropical sun is bright and immediate; within, it is softened into a diffuse glow, held by deep openings and greenery.”
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