Guillemard Reservoir

Guillemard Reservoir is a reservoir built on a hillside in Vale of Tempe, Penang, 246 feet above sea level. Now officially known as Kolam Air Guillemard, it was named on Tuesday, 16 July 1929 by Sir Hugh Clifford, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, in memory of his predecessor, Sir Laurence Guillemard, who was the Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements from 1920 to 1927. Guillemard Road in Singapore is likewise named after him.

Guillemard Reservoir comprises two equal size ponds with two cupolas. Due to its shape like a pair of spectacles, the Guillemard Reservoir became known in Hokkien as "Bark3 Knia1 Tee2", meaning Spectacle Pond. They were designed in the Art Deco style, and constructed in 1929. The waterworks engineer heading the project was James Dollery Fettes, whose name is immortalised in Fettes Park.

Guillemard Reservoir (19 December 2018)
© David ST Loh

Getting there

Unfortunately the Guillemard Reservoir is no longer open to the public. Permission need to be sought from Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang (PBA), tel: (604) 263 4200, web: www.pba.com.my However due to security reasons, this is rarely given.

Road to Guillemard Reservoir (9 June 2012)

Location map of Guillemard Reservoir

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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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