St. Joseph's Novitiate, Penang Malaysia

St. Joseph's Novitiate, Penang, Malaysia.

Once the centre of excellence for LaSallian education in Malaysia and the Far East.

  

The land was acquired by the Christian Brothers way back in 1916. In 1918, the first building was opened. This was a training centre (a novitiate) for aspiring brothers. In 1925, the current building/novitiate was opened

The beautiful stained glass windows were brought in from Italy and the altar and railings were made from imported marble. Apart from being a novitiate, it was a teachers training college as well. Initially only brothers were accepted to be trained as teachers. In the late 1950s, it accepted lay students too.

In Malaysia itself, LaSallian Brother teachers were stationed in all states except the east coast. The teaching diploma was recognized by our government until the 70s, when it was phased out, what with the change in emphasis on the curriculum.

The land and buildings were then leased out to Uplands School, until Hunza purchased it.

After the De La Salle Brothers vacated the Gurney Drive premises in the early 1980s, the site was taken over by the International School of Penang (Uplands). In December 2004, Hunza Properties (Penang) Sdn Bhd bought this parcel of land for RM97.86mil from the De La Salle Brothers

400-500 lay teachers, and 200-300 brothers ” from St. Joseph's.

Today, 2015 -  it is an upscale commercial and shopping complex.

Source : http://www.hunzagroup.com/ongoing_gurney_heritage01.htm

Source : http://www.penang-traveltips.com/st-joseph-novitiate.htm