Muntri Street and Lorong Stewart (Stewart Lane) form one of the most architectural-dense corridors within the UNESCO World Heritage zone of George Town, Penang. Together, they offer a physical timeline of the Straits Settlement shophouse evolution, transitioning from functional 19th-century mercantile spaces to elaborate turn-of-the-century residence-shophouses.

Both streets utilise a narrow, deep floor plan designed historically to optimise street frontage taxes. Behind the narrow facades lie deep internal spaces illuminated and ventilated by central open-air lightwells (air wells). These lightwells act as natural thermal chimneys, drawing cool air through the ground-level five-foot ways and expelling warm air through the open roof cavities. Lime plaster finishes over clay brick walls, terracotta floor tiles, and clay roof tiles further define the vernacular material palette, ensuring these structures remain breathable in the humid maritime climate.

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Muntri Street

Muntri Street (Lebuh Muntri) is renowned for holding one of the longest continuous stretches of intact Straits Eclectic style shophouses in Southeast Asia. Developed primarily by wealthy Cantonese merchants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the architecture here leans heavily into grandeur. The facades feature full-length upper-floor timber louvered shutters, elaborate stucco bas-reliefs, decorative pilasters, and colorful imported Peranakan floor tiles. Anchoring the street’s cultural architecture is the Ng Fook Thong Association building, constructed in 1898, which showcases traditional Southern Chinese courtyard planning with carved timber trusses, granite plinths, and sweeping sweep-roof gable ends.

A slow walk along Muntri Street introduces you to some classic shophouse architecture with some of the best preserved facades of Straits Eclectic style houses with colourful walls, ornate doors, windows and tiled walkways. This street runs from Jalan Penang to Stewart Lane (Lorong Stewart).You will also see numerous street art murals adding to the unique charm of this area. Make sure you look out for the famous “Little Girl in Blue” aka “Kung Fu Girl” high up on the gable end of the Penang Goldsmith Association. The mural is the work of Lithuaninan artist Ernest Zacharevic and which was done as part of the street art for the 2012 George Town Festival. There is also the excellent “Big Mouth” mural by British artist Gabriel Pitcher

There are a few good restaurants along the street including the excellent Bottega Penang where you can sample some of the very best in Italian cuisine. You will also note a number of small boutique hotels and hostels where you can stay.

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Lorong Stewart

Lorong Stewart (Stewart Lane) is a small lane running from Muntri Street through to Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and it is reputed to be named after a Eurasian who lived along the lane. This small lane sits in the centre of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site and has many beautiful examples of classical Straits architecture with colourful painted walls and windows. Again you can see some street murals such as the beautiful “Indian Boatman” on the corner of Lebuh Klang.

Lorong Stewart presents a tighter, more intimate scale that retains much of George Town’s early settlement character. The architecture here spans from the Early Penang style—characterized by lower, modest two-story structures with simple timber shuttered windows and minimal ornamentation—to transitional Late Straits Eclectic infills. The streetscapes along Lorong Stewart are defined by continuous five-foot ways (kaki lima), covered arcades framed by masonry arches or square columns that provided pedestrians shelter from monsoon rains and tropical sun.

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Stuart Taylor of HighlanderImages Photography has been making images for over 40 years focusing on Asia with a documentary/photojournalistic style.

Stuart is available for a variety of assignments in subject areas of photojournalism, commercial, architectural, real estate, industrial, interior design, corporate, urbex, adventure, wilderness, and travel. 

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