Tjong A Fie Mansion

Tjong A Fie arrived in Sumatra from Guangdong in 1875 with almost nothing, built a business supplying labour and goods to the tobacco plantations, and became the wealthiest man in Medan and the Majoor der Chineezen, the office through which the Dutch administered the Chinese community. His house, finished around 1900, is a two-storey courtyard mansion mixing Chinese, Malay and European elements - carved Chinese screens and an ancestral hall, Malay woodwork, Art Nouveau tiles and European furniture - and it stayed in the family, opening to visitors in 2009 with the rooms substantially as they were. His philanthropy funded mosques, temples, schools and the city's clock tower across religious lines, which is a large part of why he is remembered as he is in Medan.

What you actually see

• A merchant's courtyard house - Chinese, Malay and European elements combined.
• The ancestral hall - kept in use by the family in the house.
• Family furnishing in place - rooms substantially as they were left.
• A philanthropy record - the mosques, temples and schools he funded across communities.

When to go

All year. An hour or two.

Honest expectations

Entry is guided and rooms are shown on a set route. Photography is restricted in parts. It is a family property, so some areas are private. Medan traffic outside is heavy.

Nearby

The Great Mosque and Maimun palace are south; Kesawan and the old commercial quarter surround it.