KUALA LUMPUR: It looked exactly like Carl Fredricksen's house in the Disney film 'Up'.
Sandwiched between two shops, for 90 years the small wooden house was home to four generations of a family.
It survived World War 2, numerous floods that hit Kuala Lumpur during monsoon seasons, the ravages of time, and development that tore the very fabric of the original community.
It saw weddings, births, the numerous rites of passages that accompanied human life. In the beginning of this year, a sole, frail little woman in her 80s lived there.
Norma Manjawali had lived there most of her life since she was born in 1932.
She was raised, married and bore children in the house. She was the only remnant of a vibrant Mandailing community that had lived there for decades.
But then one day, Chow Kit residents woke up to find the house, more commonly known as 'Rumah Degil' or Stubborn House missing.
In the 2009 Disney cartoon, the lead character, Fredricksen, an old man who stubbornly holds out as the surrounding neighbourhood is filled with modern development, ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away with it.
But ‘Rumah Degil’ did not fly away on a bunch of balloons, said Fatulrahman Ghazali. The film maker, who made a documentary about the house is part of a group who set up a social project to dismantle, restore and relocate the house.
Earlier this year, the team disassembled the house and carefully stored it.
"There is a lot of history connected to this building," said Fatulrahman. The house was built by Norma's grandfather, Haji Jaafar Sutan Mengatas. The family is believed to be the descendents of Sutan Puasa, one of the founders of Kuala Lumpur.
Originally built by Chinese contractors in 1926, but in the Malay tradition, it was part of a row of houses that was owned by the extended family, which was involved in the mining business.
"They started the mining business here. Originally believed to be from nobility, the whole clan moved here to expand the business," said Fatulrahman.
Since then, one by one, the other houses were lost to the development that engulfed the Chow Kit area. ‘Rumah Degil’ was the only house left in the area. A sole survivor of an earlier era.
Sadly, in March this year, the team began disassembling the house, as it was clear nothing more could be done to save it.
An attempt to get heritage status for the house was not successful.
The team plan to build it on a different site, once funds and a suitable site are available.
Norma now lives with her daughter in Putrajaya.