Farquhar Street

Farquhar Street, George Town, Penang (11 February 2013)


Farquhar Street (Malay: Lebuh Farquhar) is one of the older streets in George Town. It starts at Pitt Street and ends at Northam Road (Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah), near the Protestant Cemetery. The eastbound lane of Farquhar Street continues to Light Street. In between Farquhar Street and Light Street is the now expunged Princes Street, which is now part of Light Street. The road branches to Leith Street and Penang Road. Love Lane forms a T-junction entering it.

Farquhar Street was named after Robert Townsend Farquhar (or R.T. Farquhar) the Lieutenant Governor of Penang in 1804-1805. However, the street already existed before 1804. In the early George Town map of Lieutenant Governor George Leith, Farquhar Street was known as Penang Road. It was only renamed during or after the term of R.T. Farquhar. It was R.T. Farquhar who, in an attempt to strengthen the position of the British port settlement of George Town, recommended that Malacca be abandoned. To ensure that the Dutch did not get back a strong Malacca, the Malacca fort was to be demolished. The person tasked with the demolition is another Farquhar, Major William Farquhar, who was the Resident of Malacca.

R.T. Farquhar is also remembered for constructing a four-mile long aqueduct to channel the water of the (now Penang Botanic Gardens) waterfall along Burmah Road (at that time, just a dirt road) to a reservoir where the E & O Hotel is located. From there, the water was sold to passing ships that needed to refill.

Map of Farquhar Street, Penang

Petrol Stations on Farquhar Street

Hotels on Farquhar Street

Sights along Farquhar Street

Schools along Farquhar Street

How to go to Farquhar Street

You can reach Farquhar Street by taking the Rapid Penang Free Shuttle Bus to Station No. 6 (Muzium). Rapid Penang Bus 10 and 103 pass along Farquhar Street.

Farquhar Street, in front of the Penang Supreme Court (17 April 2011)


Farquhar Street, as seen from the pedestrian bridge at St Xavier's Institution (29 January 2005)


Gottlieb Road commercial area (11 February 2013)


The old Lebuh Farquhar road sign (30 November 2008)

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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