Eastern & Oriental Hotel
The Eastern & Oriental Hotel (popularly known as the E. & O.) is a colonial-style hotel in Penang, Malaysia that was established in 1885 by the Sarkies Brothers.[1] The sea-fronting hotel, located at 10 Farquhar Street (Lebuh Farquhar) is known for its luxurious accommodation and restaurants.
History
The Eastern Hotel was founded by the Sarkies Brothers in 1884. Within one year, the hotel had prospered and surged in popularity that the brothers established another hotel, the Oriental Hotel, in 1885, leading to a merger of both hotels into the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in 1889. The success of the brand led the brothers to establish sister hotels, the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1887, and the Strand Hotel in Rangoon, Burma in 1901. Under the management of the brothers the E & O hotel would receive several major expansion works, culminating to the completion of the present hotel complex in 1929.
Having failed to adapt to competition following World War II, the hotel underwent several decades of decline; in 1996, a decision was made by the management to temporarily close down the hotel for major reconstruction. Although the front wing of the hotel, which would later be known as the "Heritage Wing", received restoration work, the rest of the hotel, including the easternmost 1929 "New Wing", were either gutted and refurbished, or completely reconstructed in the style of the hotel's older architectural design; the site occupied by the remnants of the original 1884 building was completely cleared away for the new central wing of the hotel, which prominently features faux-cast iron-framed verandahs similar in style to those at the Raffles Hotel.
Under its new owner, The E & O Group, the hotel was reopened to the public in 2001.
Famous visitors and guests
Famous visitors and guests of the hotel include:
- Sir Noël Coward
- Douglas Fairbanks
- Hermann Hesse
- Rudyard Kipling
- Somerset Maugham
- Sun Yat-sen
- Charlie Chaplin
- Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei
- Lee Kuan Yew
- Karl May
See also
References
- ↑ "Famous Hotels - Sarkies Brothers". famoushotels.org. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
Literature
- William Warren, Jill Gocher (2007). Asia's legendary hotels: the romance of travel. Singapore: Periplus Editions. ISBN 978-0-7946-0174-4.
External links
Media related to Eastern & Oriental Hotel at Wikimedia Commons
|