In Yangon, more colonial buildings are being preserved as homeowners realise they can profit from heritage
In Myanmar’s former capital, more owners are discovering the value of refurbishing, not demolishing, their old colonial homes, for which foreigners and wealthy locals are prepared to pay impressive rents
Last year Thein Aung, 70, and his family moved out of their dilapidated house on 47th Street, downtown Yangon. They were making way for a complete interior refurbishing of their old homestead and the arrival of foreign tenants who would pay them hefty rents for the next five years.
“This building is about 100 years old,” says Thein Aung, on a recent visit with his wife and two sons to the renovated two-storey home. “We lived in this house for five generations.”
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Thein Aung and his wife, Tham May Ping, are both fifth-generation Sino-Burmese. Their ancestors migrated from southern China’s Guangdong province to Myanmar about a century ago in search of a better life and business opportunities in the then thriving British colony, formerly called Burma.
Thein Aung’s great-great-grandfather was a construction contractor who made enough money to buy the house on 47th Street from an Indian merchant. Tham May Ping’s forefathers opened a popular Chinese restaurant on 22nd Street.
The couple now live on 22nd Street and rent the 47th Street residence out to three foreigners, having split it into three modern flats. The facade and main structure of the building has not been tampered with, in keeping with heritage requirements.
Thein Aung’s family had little money to refurbish their house during the dark years under the socialist regime of former military strongman General Ne Win (1962-88), followed by the slow years when Myanmar was under economic sanctions (1990-2010). In turn, the place became increasingly decrepit.
