The traditional Chinese shophouse is the typical urban building typology of 19th and 20th century South-east Asian Towns (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1995). Davison (2010); Kohl (1984); Too (2005) and J. H. S. Lim (1993) describes these shophouses as individual buildings of 2 to 3 storeys in height that are usually built as a row of similar units to form a block. The shophouse, as the name suggests, integrates domestic living and commercial functions within the same unit. Traditionally these shophouses accommodated the merchant who operated the business in the front room on the ground floor while his family lived on the upper floor (Yeang, 1992). Weinberger (2010) asserts that the shophouse is an Asian regional vernacular typology that is the manifestation of a larger phenomenon of a dual-use building and is one that is found throughout the world which was borne out of economic factors that was required to decrease overheads in order to have a profitable business in an urban area.
The traditional Chinese townhouse is a variation of the traditional Chinese shophouse typology. Although the traditional Chinese townhouse is fairly similar to the shophouse in appearance; it is however, built exclusively for accommodation and does not have spaces for commercial activity located within its premises.
(a) Typological features of the traditional Chinese shophouse
Shophouses are built on long narrow lots with openings limited to the short frontages at the front and rear of the site. The narrow site configuration restricts the layout of these buildings to a linear arrangement of rooms that are interspersed at intervals by air-wells which provide light and ventilation. This linear plan has caused the arrangement of rooms to follow a set series of functions that are influenced by both the Chinese courtyard house and length of the building (Kohl, 1984). The fronts of these buildings on the ground floor are set back from the road while the upper floor projecting over the
set-back creates a covered walkway. These continuous walkways which are known as a
“five-foot way” run the length of the block and provide respite from the weather.
Shopkeepers often extended their merchandise to be displayed along the five-foot way, providing a lively experience for pedestrians.
As mentioned earlier, air wells that break up the sequence of spaces within the linear layout provide light and ventilation into inner areas of the buildings. Permanent openings on walls, as well as jack-roofs, further help to ventilate these buildings (World Heritage Centre UNESCO, 2012f; Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1995). The cross-section in Figure 3.17 illustrates the common arrangement of spaces for a traditional Chinese shophouse.
Figure 3.17: Cross-section of a traditional Chinese shophouse Source: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment,
University of Malaya
(b) Façade and ornamentation
In Malaysia, the styles of these buildings are identified based on the architectural style of the front façade as the internal layouts are similar as a result of the size of lots in the urban context. (Kohl, 1984) contends that although the style of these building facades appears to be traditionally European in origin, they defer from traditional European architecture as a consequence of the availability of materials, workmanship and climate (Yeang, 1992). The dossier submitted by the Government of Malaysia for the registration of Melaka and George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site positions that shophouses in Melaka and George Town have, over an extended period developed and transformed as a result of the influences of multi-cultural trading that have occurred (Government of Malaysia, 2007). From the low single storey structures
of the early shophouses in the 1840s, the architectural development of this typology progressed to taller structures of up to 3 to 4 storeys in height. Similarly, the designs of the shophouse facades have also progressed through several stylistic phases from simple, austere designs of the early shophouse to become more elaborately decorated.
Many of the shophouses built in the early 1900s were sumptuously ornamented with decorative plasterworks that were a mixture of European and Chinese influence. Cut-and-paste shard work from broken crockery known as ‘chen nien’ is also commonly found on buildings of this period. Decorative glazed ceramic tiles covered the front walls up to waist height, and the pavements along the five-foot ways were finished with encaustic tiles (Kohl, 1984). These elaborately designed shophouses advanced to Art Deco styled buildings that were frequently finished in Shanghai plaster in the 1930s and by the mid-20th century to shophouses in the Modern style.
While Chinese merchants predominately owned shophouses, they were also belonging to the other communities. These are evident by the surface ornamentation found on these buildings which indicate the ethnicity of the owner (Yeang, 1992).
Several examples of the shophouse typologies are featured in Figure 3.18 on the following page.
Figure 3.18: Example of traditional Chinese Shophouse facades Source: Author
(c) Construction and materials
Early shophouses were low, modest structures using timber with thatched roofs which were subsequently replaced by ½ brick and timber buildings. With the increased in the availability of materials and technology, shophouses were gradually fully constructed in brick while later day models used concrete. The majority of the traditional Chinese shophouses were load bearing brick structures with timber flooring on the upper levels and were roofed with V profile unglazed terracotta clay roof tiles.
The main beams of the shophouses ran parallel to the facade and spanned the short length of the building. These beams were supported at both ends by thick party walls which separated one shophouse unit from the next. These party walls also prevented the
spread of fire from one building to the next. The walls of these buildings were finished in lime plaster which allowed the buildings to breathe (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1995).
The literature review in this section has provided an overview of the traditional Chinese shophouse. It has described the main features, design and construction of the building type. The next section will present the findings and analysis for the fieldwork to answer RO3.
3.5 Summary
This chapter provided the background context to heritage protection in Malaysia. The chapter began with literature review on heritage related legislations in Malaysia and subsequently discussed how the criteria for listing National Heritage have been applied.
The traditional Malay house and the Chinese shophouse were also discussed to provide an understanding of these vernacular domestic building typologies.
The review on heritage related legislations has identified issues in the NHA 2005 which needs to be addressed in order for heritage protection to be more effective. The chapter has also described the rich architecture and social culture related with the traditional Malay house and Chinese shophouse, and shown its importance as a vernacular typologies which should be protected.
The following chapter, Chapter 4, will discuss the research methods that were applied for this study.