The Peranakan Chinese Home. Ronald G. Knapp

      Taken a century apart, these photographs reveal the eclectic nature of the Tjong A Fie Mansion, which was completed in 1900. A successful immigrant from Meixian in Guangdong province, Tjong began a Peranakan Chinese family whose members still occupy the home. Jalan Kesawan Square, Medan, Indonesia.

      Just as there were stylistic differences as shop-houses and terrace houses evolved, this was true as well with bungalows and villas. While European classical features dominate on the façades, Peranakan Chinese added decorative stucco elements that recall themes then current with new generations of shophouses and terrace houses, “a hotch-potch of elements [that] do not seem to have been applied according to any architectural theory or principle,” in the words of Lee Kip Lin (1988: 128). Mandalay Villa, which was constructed in 1902 and demolished in 1983, was a grand two-storey eclectic residence built by Lee Cheng Yan, a prominent Peranakan Chinese merchant family, in the Katong seaside area of Singapore (see page 17). Set within an expansive garden that was approached by a long driveway, the residence had six bedrooms with a nearby sea-pavilion having an additional two bedrooms to accommodate an extended family that varied in size over the years. With verandas on the front and rear and spacious halls for dining and socializing, the home was often the site of celebratory events. Although no longer standing, Mandalay Villa is well documented with exterior and interior photographs that show not only its classical European features and furnishings but also its functioning as the site for a Peranakan Chinese wedding and a funeral (Lee Kip Lin, 1988: 192–3; Liu, 1999: 224–5; Lee and Chen, 2006: 24–31).