€158.40 for 1 Night


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€158.40/ Night


24/7 Support
Looking for help choosing or for a property we don't list? Message our Private Rates Concierge on WhatsApp for member rates and insider knowledge on the right stay
A restored 1906 mansion hotel of 35 rooms on historic Leith Street, across from the Blue Mansion in UNESCO George Town, with a courtyard pool and an all-day lounge.

Southeast Asia’s Best New Boutique Hotel
Check in from 14:00; check out before 12:00.












€158.40 for 1 Night

Location
15 Lebuh Leith, George Town, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
The Edison is at 15 Lebuh Leith in central George Town, walkable to Little India, Love Lane and the clan houses. It faces the Red Garden night food court, so light sleepers should request a back room. Airport 40 minutes; parking on site.
Penang International Airport (PEN)
40min
Last Updated: 2026-06-24

Expert Review
Origins
George Town, the capital of Penang, is one of Southeast Asia's great heritage cities — a dense, walkable grid of shophouses, clan temples, mosques and colonial mansions that earned the old centre UNESCO World Heritage status in 2008, and a food culture that has made it, by common consent, the eating capital of Malaysia. Leith Street, where The Edison stands, was once known as Hakka Millionaires' Row, lined with the grand houses of the Chinese tycoons who made their fortunes here — the most famous of them the indigo Blue Mansion, directly across the road.
The Edison occupies one of those houses, built in 1906 for a Hakka tycoon, Yeo Wee Gark, a European-influenced colonial mansion of cast-iron columns shipped from Scotland, marble floors, frescoes, shuttered windows and a dragon fountain. Its history runs through the twentieth century with the city's: requisitioned as an administrative centre during the Japanese occupation of the Second World War, and later, after decades of decline, a rundown hotel. In 2016 it was restored and reopened as The Edison, its period features preserved under heritage rules and set against a contemporary, colourful interior.
Today it is a 35-room hotel that wears its history lightly. The ground-floor rooms keep their double-height ceilings; the courtyard, with its cast-iron pillars, holds an outdoor pool and shaded cabanas — a rarity in a heritage building of this size. In place of a restaurant, the hotel runs an all-day Lounge with complimentary snacks and a daily wine-and-cheese hour, on the sensible logic that in a city this food-obsessed, guests are better sent out to eat. With the Blue Mansion opposite and Little India, Love Lane and the street-food stalls all within a short walk, it makes a characterful, well-placed base in the middle of the old town.
Top Secret
Read up on the house in its own library. The Edison's library is stocked with books on George Town's history and Malaysian culture, and there is no better spot to read them than in one of the best-preserved colonial mansions in the city — then step outside and see it for yourself, with the indigo Blue Mansion directly across the road and the grand houses of old Leith Street, once Hakka Millionaires' Row, all around. Ask at the desk and the team will happily talk you through the building's own century of history.

The Review
The Edison George Town is among the most characterful heritage hotels in the city — a restored 1906 mansion on Leith Street, the old Hakka Millionaires' Row, that pairs genuine colonial grandeur with a warm, personal style of service. Larger and grander than a shophouse hotel, with 35 rooms, a courtyard pool and double-height ground-floor rooms, it offers the scale of a proper mansion in the very heart of UNESCO George Town.
The pleasures are the building and the setting. The restoration is handsome — cast-iron columns, marble, frescoes, a dragon fountain — and the leafy courtyard pool with its cabanas is a genuine luxury in a heritage hotel this central. There is no restaurant, by design: the all-day Lounge lays on complimentary snacks and a daily wine-and-cheese hour, and the rest of the time the city's street food and restaurants are a short walk away, the Blue Mansion directly opposite. Service draws consistent praise, and the team take visible pride in the house.
The honest notes are worth knowing. The biggest is noise: the hotel faces the Red Garden, a lively open-air night food court with live music until around midnight, so front-facing rooms can be loud — ask for a room at the back. The building is over a decade into its new life and shows some gentle wear, the wooden floors can be squeaky, and a few public areas are not air-conditioned. None of that undoes the appeal. For heritage, a pool and a central George Town base with character, it is among the best in town.