Despite the abundance of settlement history in Melaka, one must not forget Melaka is also famous for its Malay architecture houses. There are 20 houses which have been identified as Melaka Heritage Houses.
During KCC1M Melaka organized by Gayatravel and Tourism Melaka, I had the opportunity to explore one of the houses in Melaka which is known as Rumah Demang Haji Abdul Ghani. Other names for the eccentric house are Rumah Penghulu Natar or Istana Merlimau or Rumah Merlimau.
According to the information board, Rumah Demang Haji Abdul Ghani is believed to have been built by Demang Abdul Ghani bin Penghulu Abdul Majid, a tycoon whose descendents came from Palembang in 1894. He was a headman and highly respected by the society at that time.
It is indeed a unique Malay house with the influence of Palembang, Champa and Philippines. It has the essential characteristic of Malay houses but with balcony with “limas” roofs. The house is huge that it comprises of the living area, kitchen separated with a compound, three balconies, wet kitchen, a well and a porch.
The house was the administrative center of the village and is often used as a meeting place to discuss community affairs. Three generations of the village headman had inhabited this house: Penghulu Abdul Majid (1831-1834); Demang Abdul Ghani bin Abdul Majid (1834-1934) and Penghulu Mat Natar bin Abdul Ghani (1934-1978).
Interestingly, it was built without using nails.
One of the striking artwork of Rumah Demang Haji Abdul Ghani is the carvings that carry implied meaning in the patterns of flora and fauna. For example, the motifs of ‘Ang Ling’ (Red Dragon Sculpture) is associated with wealth and power meanwhile ‘Eng Ling’ (Golden Dragon Sculpture) is associated with control and protection. Six-point star carved pillar symbolizes faith depicting how the owner appreciated the application of Islamic values in life.
The decorative tiles are believed to have been originated from Italy and China while on the stairs, it highlights cultural characteristics of the Malay community for accomoodation of guest. The Chinese tiles is used on the roof which is from textured concrete form of ‘singgora’.
High quality woods such as merbabu, teak and cengal are widely used in the house.