EASTERN & ORIENTAL Hotel Penang, 138 Years Old Hotel In George Town, Penang With Sea View

Описание: In its early days as an outpost of the East India Company, Penang drew travellers of every shade and description – merchants, missionaries, mercenaries, sailors and adventurers. From London to Singapore, one was required to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, an arduous journey which took four months on the average. In the 1840s, an overland rail route was established which made it possible for travellers to by-pass the Cape of Good Hope altogether.

But it was not until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the arrival of the steamship, that travel to Asia assumed unprecedented style and luxury. Writers, actors, playwrights, the rich and the titled, bored with Europe and America, looked to the exotic East to satisfy their wanderlust. Suddenly, there was a new breed of travellers – the globetrotters.

It was to meet the demands of these new affluent travellers that the Eastern & Oriental was born.

Already renowned in Southeast Asia for their enterprise and business acumen, the Armenian Sarkies brothers, Martin and Tigran, settled down in Penang and established the Eastern Hotel in 1884. Encouraged by its success, they opened another hotel, the Oriental in 1885, on an adjacent piece of land facing the sea. Combined, these two hotels became the largest hotel in Penang, offering 80 comfortable and tastefully appointed rooms.

In 1891, another Sarkies brother, Arshak, joined the business. More flamboyant than his brothers, he added a large ballroom in 1903. Before long, the E&O (as it came to be fondly called) became the centre of the social life and gaiety of Penang and its surroundings. It was the venue for the island’s major functions, such as weddings, banquets and the annual St. George’s Day Ball. Visiting musicians and cabaret acts also found their way to the E&O. Famous guests who enjoyed its hospitality included Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Hermann Hesse.

In 1922, Arshak secured a large plot of land for the hotel which extended its already impressive sea frontage. On this piece of land was built the magnificent Victory Annexe, which added another 40 rooms. By 1927, the E&O was pronounced in advertisement as ‘The Premier Hotel East of the Suez’, boasting more than 100 rooms, 40 of them with adjoining bathrooms, hot and cold running water, individual telephones and a 842-foot seafront, ‘the longest of any hotel in the world’. Sadly, as the Great Depression set in, Arshak’s extravagance and mismanagement of his hotel also caught up with him, the E&O slipped into a slow decline, and after Arshak’s death in 1931, it changed hands several times. However, even at its lowest point, the E&O retained its charm and weathered the passage of time with character and grace.

Today, more than a century since its establishment, the E&O has reclaimed its heritage. And with its return to elegance, it would not be a matter of wonder, as a writer once put it, that ‘those who have once visited this famous hotel, regard the E&O as a haven to be sought again and again, as the traveller returns to the home of his affection.’

Thanks for watching the video, see you In next video :)