GEORGE TOWN, June 20 -- Every evening along a short narrow lane, just behind the Assumption Church in George Town, shrieks of laughter would fill the air as children ran and played.

It was a time before there were many cars on the roads and that narrow lane was a playground for the children living in the row of five terraced houses.

"It was like a dead end because the road leads to a narrow back lane so cars didn't come in," said Stan De Souza.

The 86-year-old was one of the children who used to run and play along Argus Lane back when Eurasian families lived in that row of houses.

That was between the 1930s to the early 2010s, a period of over 70 years.

The five terrace houses, built in 1928 and owned by the Church of the Assumption,...