St Joseph's Novitiate, Pulau Tikus, Penang

St Joseph's Novitiate, Penang (1 July 2006)


St Joseph's Novitiate (GPS: 5.43544, 100.31089) is a historic building on grounds bordered to the north by Gurney Drive and south by Kelawai Road in Pulau Tikus, Penang. Today it has been restored and preserved as part of Gurney Paragon Mall .

In the past, the St. Joseph's Novitiate was part of the St Joseph's Training College that stood next to the original College General complex. College General moved to its present site on Mount Miriam in 1984. The premises of St Joseph's Novitiate was also occupied by the Uplands International School until the school moved to its own campus in Batu Ferringhi.

The College General as well as the St Joseph's Training College are seminaries founded by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (a.k.a. the Christian Brothers, the Lasallian Brothers, the French Christian Brothers, or the De La Salle Brothers), a Roman Catholic religious teaching order that pioneered education of the masses in Malaya as well as elsewhere in the world.

The site at Pulau Tikus area which came to be associated with the order was acquired by the De La Salle Brothers in 1916 for a novitiate - quarters for novices - and a training college. The St Joseph's Training College buildings originally directly faced the sea along North Beach as Gurney Drive did not exist yet. St Joseph's functioned as a teacher's training college for those who wished to teach in the missionary schools set up by the La Salle Brothers.

Among the mission schools established are the St Xavier's Institution and Convent Light Street in Penang, St Michael's Institution in Ipoh and St Joseph's Institution (nowadays the Singapore Art Museum) in Singapore.

The St Joseph's Novitiate building is a two-storey structure that was added in 1925. A chapel occupies the upper floor. It has lovely stained-glass windows, and the statue of Mary trampling a serpent. On the outer wall facing Gurney Drive is the inscription in Latin, ANNO SANCTO MCMXXV, meaning Holy Year 1925, the year it was completed.

After the De La Salle Brothers vacated the Gurney Drive premises in the early 1980s, the site was taken over by the International School of Penang (Uplands). In December 2004, Hunza Properties (Penang) Sdn Bhd bought this parcel of land for RM97.86mil from De La Salle Brothers for a high rise retail and residential project to be known as Gurney Paragon.

In the middle of 2006, the international school - which had only been leasing the land and the St. Joseph's Novitiate building, as opposed to having purchased it outright - moved out of the area and relocated to Batu Ferringhi.

The wall of the St Joseph's Novitiate with the inscription, ANNO SANCTO MCMXXV (1 July 2006)


St Joseph's Novitiate, after restoration and rebranded as St Jo's. (23 January 2012)


The school field of the former Uplands International School, before the construction of Gurney Paragon. (1 July 2006)


Exterior of St Joseph's Novitiate Building, before the construction of Gurney Paragon. (1 July 2006)


Front view of the now demolished Uplands School when it was in Pulau Tikus. (1 July 2006)


The now demolished National Shrine of the Boy Jesus within the St Joseph's Novitiate complex. (1 July 2006)


Side view of the National Shrine of the Boy Jesus. (1 July 2006)

Updates on the St Joseph's Novitiate

23 January, 2013
After a restoration project costing RM10 million, including RM3.5 million to stabilize its foundation, the St Joseph's Novitiate building was converted into a food, beverage, event and entertainment destination known as St Jo's.

Further Reading

Learn about the early history of the Eurasians and the Roman Catholics in Penang through the following pages in Penang Travel Tips:

Other Related Pages

View within the chapel of St Joseph's Novitiate, before restoration. (1 July 2006)


The alter within the chapel of St Joseph's Novitiate, before restoration. (1 July 2006)


Statue of Virgin Mary trampling the serpent (1 July 2006)


Statue of St Joseph with the infant Jesus (1 July 2006)


Stained glass, St Joseph's Novitiate (1 July 2006)


St John Baptist de la Salle, the Patron Saint of Education (1 July 2006)


Archangel Michael (1 July 2006)


Angel Gabriel (1 July 2006)


Brother Solomon (1 July 2006)

St Joseph's Novitiate is on the Map of Jalan Kelawai, Penang

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Rebecca Wilkinson for arranging the photoshoot and documentation, and to Yvonne Teh of Heritage Asia for reviewing the content of this travel feature.

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