– research courtesy Darryl Collins –
Art Historian and former occupant of the House
The Chinese House
45, Terak Vitei Preah Sisowath
corner of Vithei Neary Khlahan [Street 84]
Sangkat Sras Chork Khan Daun Penh
Phnom Penh
Kingdom of Cambodia
The entire block that encompasses the site of the house originally belonged to a son of King Ponhea Yat, the founder of Phnom Penh, and later to the ‘Second King’ or the ‘Upayuvarech’.
Tan Bunpa (Boun Pa), a member of the Chinese Hokkien community, born in Phnom Penh on 21 May 1871, bought the land in 1903.
A document found at the National Archives reveals all taxes and duties payable on the acquisition of a parcel of land by ‘Tang Boun-Pa’, described as a Chinese involved in commerce and resident in Phnom Penh. The parcel referred to is Lot 22 in the ‘1er Quartier’. The legal registration process began on 30 May 1903, was approved on 8 June, registered on 12 June and announced by Public Notice on 15 January 1904. The entry appeared in ‘Domaine Local du Cambodge’ vol. 1, entry no. 93. The total payable was calculated to be 308 piastres 88 cents. The Receiver of Taxes in Phnom Penh finalised this transaction on 31 May 1905, by a Notice that mentions Boun-Pa paid a lesser amount: 205 piastres 92 cents.
The house itself was most probably built between 1903 and 1905.
The house is clearly marked on 1910 maps at the corner of ‘rue des Écoles’ and ‘Quai Lagrandière’. A small hand-drawn map dated 1929 clearly shows ‘Logement Boun Pa’ immediately to the East of the ‘École Professionnelle’.
His family continually occupied the house until the 1970s.
Surprisingly little is revealed about him, except the fact that Tan Bunpa was a merchant-businessman, a provedore, in the lucrative food import-export and, according to one source, involved in the timber trade. His business was founded under the shop-name of ‘Kim Heng Seng’ in 1901.
Copies of invoices from 1903 indicate that he was supplying foodstuffs to the ‘Prison du Protectorat’.
‘Tan Boun Pa’ is listed as no.1 in a 1904 listing of “Commerçants asiatiques de la ville de Phnom-Penh”, under the shop-name of ‘Kim Seng Heng’.
Orders and invoices from government officials addressed to and from “Boun-Pa, Épicier, rue du Protectorat” (1906-1907) and ‘Maison Boun Pa’ (1931), have been discovered at the National Archives.
Tan Boun Pa was welcomed into the ‘Chambre Consultative Mixte de Commerce et d’Agriculture du Cambodge’ in the meeting of 27 December 1913.
A 1930 tourist guide lists ‘Tan Boun Pa’, suggesting he must have been a pre-eminent merchant.
Due to the location of the house in the once fashionable Foreign Quarter (Quartier européen / Quartier français), it is obvious the size of the house, together with the port facilities opposite, combined to provide the Tan family with considerable income.
Archive records indicate Tan Boun Pa also rented commercial premises from the former king, HM King Norodom (d.1904). In December 1912, an official reckoning of monies for rental properties listed Tan Boun Pa as paying 21 Piastres a month for the two premises at 23-25 rue du Protectorat (now 12 Ang Eng Street or St. 13, opposite Central Post Office). These shops were renovated in 1916. From official palace records, the properties were known as, ‘Mam Momkruong’. Early in 2001, both shops were renovated from a derelict state to be leased by ‘Mekong Libris’, a French language bookshop. A the time of writing, the shop is unoccupied and for rent.
Under the Royal Ordinance 114, Tan Bunpa (Boun Pa) ‘Sino-Cambodgien’ was conferred Cambodian citizens on September 6, 1930.
Naturalisation papers state his father’s name was Tan Kim Loc (Lok) and his mother’s Ong (Uong) Si (Sy) Kim. Tan Bunpa was married to Ong (Uong) Keo. He had a son, Tan Chhiou (Chhieu) Houn (Heng) born in 1895. The son is listed as a ship-owner and resident at 45 quai Lagrandière. Further documentation suggests that he also licensed a number of vehicles for transportation of goods throughout the city and provinces. It is reported Tan Bunpa lived to 81 years of age and died c.1952, one year before Cambodia’s independence with the end of the French Protectorate in 1953.
The most surprising thing about the house is that it had remained in its original state with few alterations or additions. Currently, the house consists of three distinct and separate buildings within a walled enclosure, located almost opposite the entrance to the river freight port. The main house, which is almost square, 2-storeyed, has an arched facade in French villa style, faces east and has the Tonle Sap River flowing past on the opposite side of the Preah Sisowath Quay. The kitchen is a small single-storeyed out-building to the south of the main house. A bathroom/toilet/storeroom/guards’ quarters is a 2-storeyed building and attached by a small link corridor on the upstairs level to the main house, to the north.
All buildings have the traditional Chinese tiled roofs.
The house has an original patchwork tiled floor on the ground floor (although some of the patterns have been repaired) and the upper floor is of hand-hewn hardwood. Several of the front porch tiles had to be replaced due to damage. The tiles were clearly imported from France as they are marked verso by intaglio moulding, ‘Carrelages Larmande/J. Blachere & Ce/Villeneuve de Berg/Ardeche France’.
Etienne Clément, former Head of UNESCO Office in Cambodia had visited the house in the company of a former director, Richard Engelhardt. He recalled a huge, ornate, Chinese gilt bed in the centre of the upstairs room. The bed had vanished when Darryl Collins arrived in early 1994.
In June 1997, a publication concerning the urban development of the city and the classification of historic architecture - both public and private - listed the site and house as “édifice et site remarquables” with the annotation ‘A91’. At the conclusion of the book it is included in the listing, “Édifices et ensembles à protéger”: proposition “Édifices privés” as: “A91/Maison/53 quai Sisowath / Intérêt [Importance]: 3”.
The street on which the house and temple stand was once known as, ‘quai Lagrandière’ then as, ‘Terak Vitei Preah Bat Sisowath’, and finally during the 70s and 80s, ‘quai Karl Marx’. Now it is simply ‘Terak Vitei Preah Sisowath’. The side street immediately next to the house was, in 1910, named ‘rue des Écoles’, then ‘rue Pottier’ then ‘Street 12’, and later ‘Street 84’, now ‘Vitei Neary Khlahan’ (the Brave Girl Street).
In the proposition ‘Liste des Monuments et des Sites Historiques’ published by the Bureau des Affaires Urbaines de Phnom Penh (BAUPP) in 1996, the allotment is noted as: Cadastre 30, Lot 12, Parcel 53. This publication dates the house to 1910-1920. There appears to be no connection between original street numbers and those given now. Some follow the parcel number, while others do not. An informant recalled that the house number as it stands now is incorrect - instead of ‘44,’ it should be ‘25’ or, more recently according to the ‘Atelier parisien d’urbanisme’, ‘53’ - the first number concerned Darryl Collins when he moved in, as he believed no Chinese would occupy a residence with this inauspicious number, 44, ‘double death’ or ‘handcuffs’. The recent find of naturalisation documents strongly suggests the original number was instead, ‘45’. Darryl Collins has placed this number on the front façade of the house proper.
There is no first-hand information concerning the Khmer Rouge period; but the house must have been abandoned and left empty when everyone was escorted from the city in April 1975. In the 80s, several families of officials and management staff of the nearby Preah Khet Mealea Hospital occupied the house.
The house was purchased from these individuals by a preeminent Khmer/Australian family in the early 90s and from1994 occupied by Darryl Collins till his departure to Siem Reap in 2007.
The house was finally bought by a reputable female Okhna, known for preserving historical buildings in Phnom Penh (such as the Pavilion guesthouse, the Asian Development Bank and others) and happens to be a grand-daughter of Tan Bunpa. The house has now returned to the family of its original owner.
In 2008, it was leased to a French couple that turned it into an art gallery downstairs and a bar upstairs that opened on November 28, 2008. It is now named The Chinese House.
For further information, please contact darryl_rep@yahoo.com