YLCO (Yeoh, Lim,Chew & Oh) Families: Descendants of Chew Boon Juan Revisit His Former Home @61 Chamberlain Hulu, Ipoh

the Descendants (l-r) Yeoh Pang Hoe, Teoh Gim Loo, Pauline Chew, Yeoh Lam Swee, Ignatius Chew, Agnes Chew and Yeoh Poh See

The descendants of Chew Boon Juan revisited his former home at Chamberlain Hulu recently. Yeoh Lam Swee a great grandson arranged for the visit the school with the Headmistress Puan Muszalipah and requested Ignatius, Pauline, Poh See, Agnes, Teoh Ghim Loo and Yeoh Pang Hoe to come along.

Puan Muszalipah greeted us with tea and snacks before taking the tour of the school. The building is planned for demolition as the wooden floorboards above were rotten and the structure showed signs of tilting.

..a meal prepared by Puan Muszalipah before touring the home

The above poster states that in "1952 the government bought 2 big houses (1) at 61 Chamberlain Road, a 3.5 acres estate which belonged to Mr Chew Boon Juan.....(2) No 71 Chung Thye Phin road ......."

Chew Boon Juan's spacious mansion with the long driveway. The 4 marble statues (right of the picture) before the porch

Chew Boon Juan home was in all aspects a large mansion. Built in the early twenties it had an expansive square footage. It had lovely tiles, a huge imposing teak staircase at the entrance and it separated the downstairs bedroom from the spacious hall. Upstairs was 4 more spacious bedrooms all of which had its own bathroom and an attached balcony.

Chew Boon Juan had travelled the world with his close friend Chung Thye Phin, the last Kapitan China of Perak and returned with Italian sculptures which he displayed around his mansion. The grounds were decorated with 4 of these statues placed before the porch.

The gate for the mansion was at Chamberlain Hulu road and one had a long driveway to the porch. The garden was spacious enough to accommodate 2 tennis courts.

Ong Choo Imm sitting in between the tennis courts on the lawn of Chew Boon Juan mansion

Tennis Courts / 2018 / Khor Cheng Bor worked in Ban Hoe Seng from 1946 till 1949. He played tennis togethter with Chew Choon Kok and Yeoh Ghim Leong. Choon Kok and Monica Yeoh Suan Bee were courting while Suan Bee’s brother Ghim Leong was courting with Joyce Leong ….Yeoh Saw Kin…recalled being the ball-boy Yeoh Ghim Seng and Winnie Khong.....

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I had photographed the school several years ago. I walked in to the office and requested to photograph the house and surprisingly was allowed so. I had an office clerk follow me around to open the doors. The building was stable then and only the above floorboards on the east side showed signs of wood rot. I will show and compare the different images.

Initially Teoh Ghim Loo informed me who lived at No 61. She and her mother Chew Gaik Looi together with her brothers moved in after the war.

Later Barbara Chew/ Hsu emailed me who stayed at 61 Chamberlain Hulu before the war. I had met her when she came to Ipoh with her daughter the celebrated World Champion Pastry Chef En-Ming Hsu in 2016.

I found Ong Choo See's notes typed by Ignatius Chew which I have included.

First the downstairs. 2026 then 2018.

2026 downstairs. The school office was partitioned .....

2026..the partitioned office and tea room...

2026..upstairs looking down ..note the impressive floor tiles ..it was constructed in early twenties ..

2018 from Barbara Chew .."my recollections as a child from 4 to 6 years old can be murky at best, I'll try to tell you as much as I can remember..I was born and have lived in the bungalow on 6, Chamberlain Road for about 6 years before WWII broke out. My memory is sketchy. Rumors has it that the group of bungalows along Chamberlain Road was built on an old cemetery. A large monument was erected on one end of the road where all the bones were collected and interred there. . As a young child when we misbehaved, our Ahma would scares us with ghosts stories and that the house was haunted. I dare not venture downstairs at night in that house."

2018. The entrance and

2018 ..the imposing teak staircase upstairs

2018..looking down from the staircase ... the impressive tiles all throughout the ground floor

2018..the side hall ....it was all one open space ...

2018..a huge open space hall. The two rooms opposite the hall belonged to the grandparents

could this be the room where Ignatius had his 1st birthday (R) Ignatius with 1st birthday cake

while Yeoh Kian Ooi looks at the camera .

2018....behind the staircase was it the dining room??

...there were only two rooms downstair on the left by the staircase for the grandparents

2026 Agnes, Poh See and Ghim Loo in the parlour of the granparents quarters......

2018.... from Barbara .."There were only two rooms downstair on the left by the staircase. . The room on the back was grandparent's bedroom when they visits Ipoh, adjacent in the front was the parlor. ......I loved to slide on the banister when no one was looking"...

Grandfather Boon Juan and Grandmother visits Ipoh about two or three times a year. I remembered seeing him relaxing and reading his papers in the parlor and I would go in there and jumped around the sofas disturbing him, but he never complain. ....Occasionally, the chauffeur drove him somewhere".

2018..grandparents parlour ...

2018....the grandparents bedroom was behind the parlour ....

2026..Outside grandparents parlour Ignatius and Ghim Loo / 1952 Ignatius on his toys

Next the upstairs.2026.

From Ong Choo See d/o Ong Kok Hoo and Chew Gaik Hoon…."after the Japanese left, our family was the first to move back to Chew Boon’s Juan’s bungalow in Ipoh because Choon Siew asked us to move in first. Later all the other sons and daughters also moved in ..a hugh family....We stayed in a room separated by a temporary wooden panel behind Choon Kok’s big room in front next to the balcony. Angeline loved to come in our room ..she would put her little foot through the big gap under the closed door to indicate she wanted to come in. She went around other rooms too".

Teoh Ghim Loo .....I lived at No 61 after the war. "There was 5 rooms upstairs. I lived at the left room at the top of the stairs with my mother Chew Gaik Looi. My brothers lived downstairs at the back. In the front room was China grandma Ang Hae's room. Across the hall in the front room was Chew Choon Kok and behind him lived Chew Choon Siew.

2026 ...Ghim Loo standing at the door to Ang Hae's room ....

2026.after WWII ..room on the left was Chew Choon Kok's and the right belonged to Chew Choon Siew ....

2018..Chew Gaik Swee's room pre-war and Chew Choon Kok's room (post war). Door at right was the bathroom and the balcony at left. All rooms had bathrooms attached and a balcony.

2018

2018 ..Chew Choon Kok room pre-war / Teoh Ghim Loo room post war ...at the top of the stairs and Ang Hae's room in front ...

2018..Choon Kok's room pre-war then Ghim Loo's room post war .....

2018 .. the attached bathroom with a door to the balcony ...

.Barbara Chew pre war ..."All the living quarters were upstairs. There was one large room in the front.and two bedrooms on each side. I shared the large room with my three younger brothers. The back room on the left belonged to my parents, the adjacent room in front was #10 Auntie Gaik Swee. Across the hall on the other side, the front room was China Grandma's, adjacent behind was 5th Uncle Choon Kok bedroom".

2018..Barbara Chew before the war ....."All the living quarters were upstairs. .....

2018 Barbara Chew ..."there was one large room in the front...I shared the large room with my three younger brothers."

2018 ..the spacious lounge upstairs

2018

2018.. the spacious back balcony ..was enclosed by the school ...

2018 ..view of the back balcony downstairs from the back of the house ..

..Ghim Loo .."when it was fruit season in the evening Choon Siew and his 2 boys would stand in the back balcony and shoot flying foxes. This was because of the many fruit trees along the perimeter of the house".

2018..behind the staircase was the way to the dining room / kitchen

..could this be the dining room ?

2026 ....the large garden in the front. The large 4 marble statues in the front

4 marble statues with Ignatius. and (R,clockwise) Agnes, Evelyne Goh, Ann Goh, May Goh, the 3 daughters of Ong Choo See and Goh Beng Teong.

..to the west of the house

..the connecting gate to MGS school from Chew Boon Juan's house

Ong Choo See......after the British took back Malaya I studied in MGS school. I would walk across with my sisters & cousins through the gate in the fence to school