Birch House, George Town

Birch House, George Town, Penang (25 November 2012)


Birch House (GPS: 5.41292, 100.326) is a heritage building along Dato Kramat Road in George Town, Penang. It was built to serve as the office of the tin smelting plant of Escoy Smelting, known in the late 20th century as Eastern Smelting. The 5.3 hectare site of the tin smelting plant is now developed as Penang Times Square, and Birch House is being retained as the headquarters of the developer, Ivory Properties Group following a RM2.5 million restoration work.

The tin-smelting plant itself was founded by Lee Chin Ho, who started it in 1897. Tin mined in the peninsula from North Malaya all the way to southern Thailand was transported to Penang for smelting. Originally called the Seng Kee Tin-Smelting Works, it was renamed Eastern Smelting Company when it became publicly listed. The tin ingots smelted thereafter carried the acronym "ESCOY" which is a contraction of Eastern Smelting Company.

Birch House was built around 1908. In 1907, the British Resident of Perak from 1905-1909, Sir Ernest Woodford Birch and three other associates bought controlling interest in Eastern Smelting Company. When the office of Eastern Smelting was built in the following year, 1908, it was named Birch House. Birch was a moving force in the development of the tin smelting works in Penang.

The roads around Eastern Smelting were likewise named after tin mining areas from where the ore originated. Hence roads within the vicinity were given names such as Tongkah Road and Trang Road.

Birch House (4 February 2006)


Birch House, Dato Kramat Road, George Town (4 February 2006)


Birch House at night (9 December 2008)

Birch House is on the Map of Jalan Dato Keramat, Penang

Recommended Reading

More information about the Eastern Smelting Company can be found on pages 103-104 of the book Kinta Valley (Perak Academy 2005) by Khoo Salma Nasution & Abdur-Razzaq Lubis.

List of Historic Buildings in Penang and Historic Buildings in Malaysia