The Architectural Configuration of the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi Complex
The Khoo Kongsi complex consists of the clanhouse Leong San Tong, an administrative building with a meeting hall and offices, an opera stage, and 62 units of terrace houses and shophouses. There are three entrances to the complex: the main entrance is at Cannon Street: the rear entrance, with a decorative archway, faces Beach Street; and the side entrance leads to Armenian Street. Read More »
The Architectural Development of Leong San Tong
Leong San Tong sits in the middle of the courtyard and faces west-northwest. This position is the same as that of the progenitor Khoo Chian Eng’s tomb in Sin Kang. Leong San Tong has a width of seven bays with a protruding facade. It consists of three parts : a prayer pavilion which is almost half a storey above the ground level, a double-storey main building, and a single-storey kitchen on the side wing to the left. Read More »
The Spatial Order and Roof Patterns of the Leong San Tong
Leong San Tong is not only outstanding in its structure, but is also mature and elegantly proportionate in terms of form. It depicts excellent craftsmanship in woodcarving, stone carving, coloured drawing, stucco sculpture, cut-and-paste decoration and tiled roof work of master craftsmen from Southern Fujian at the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is indeed the grandest masterpiece of its type in South East Asia. Read More »
The Architectural Structure of Leong San Tong
Despite its Indo-Malay bungalow influence in the floor plan, 90 percent of the structure and decoration of Leong San Tong is typical of the Southern Fujian style. Among other things, this Southern Fujian architecture features on the rooftops of the main hall and the Prayer Pavilion using curved surfaces and wing-shaped ridges with cut-and-paste decoration and stucco sculpture. Read More »
The Timberwork of Leong San Tong
The most important architectural expression of Leong San Tong lies in the timberwork on the roof truss. The truss structure of the Cheng Soon Keong and the Prayer Pavilion are of the Ting Tang Zao” style, a kind of roof truss which is uplifted by four principal columns. Read More »
The Stone Carving and Structure of Leong San Tong
Due to the clansmen’s generous contribution, a large number of superior quality stone materials have been used for the construction of Leong San Tong. Green, white and pinkish stones are used for the walls from the Prayer Pavilion to the verandah. Read More »
The Ridge Decoration of Leong San Tong
On the rooftop of a traditional Chinese temple or clanhouse. ridge decorations are indispensable. In Cantonese architecture, the shek wan pottery and the stucco are usually used for ridge decorations, whereas in the Southern Fujian and Teochew architecture, the jian nian (cut-and-paste) porcelain shardwork and the stucco sculpture are used. Read More »
The Murals and Coloured Drawings in Leong San Tong
The coloured drawings are indispensable ornaments in a temple or a clanhouse. Paint or calligraphy is applied to the drawings. The coloured drawings are found on the walls (the murals and the painted wall panels) and the wooden structures (the painted posts, lintels and the “Door God” paintings). Read More »
Religious Beliefs
The most important practices in a clan society are ancestral and deity worship. The Chinese believe that when a person dies, he lives on in the form of a spirit or ghost and continues to have influence on his offspring. Therefore, the dead must be worshipped as if he is still alive. Read More »
Other Buildings at Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi
The administrative building is the place where clansmen hold meetings and settle clan affairs. It was built a few years after the establishment of Leong San Tong. In view of its architecture, this building which is a separate entirety from the clanhouse, bears evidence of the influence of British colonial architecture. Read More »
The Inscriptions in Leong San Tong
Before the 1999-2001 restoration, Leong San Tong had three stone inscriptions and one brass inscription which documented the founding, establishment and restorations of the clanhouse. With the completion of the second major restoration in 2001, another stone inscription was added at the basement. Read More »