Global InformationList of colonial buildings in Medan information
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A variety of infrastructure were constructed in the city of Medan during the colonial period of Dutch East Indies, which is now Indonesia. Following the establishment of the Deli Company in 1869, the city was transformed rapidly from a small kampong (village) of a few hundred people into the largest city in Sumatra. When the Sultan of Deli moved his residence there in 1891, Medan became the capital of North Sumatra. Subsequent rapid development ushered in a western-centric architectural style used in a number of colonial buildings built in Medan.[1][2] These buildings range from houses, offices, hotels, stores, houses of worship, hospitals, and schools.[3] Despite its relatively late modernization compared to older cities like Jakarta and Makassar, Medan has an abundant colonial architectural heritage. 42 buildings have been officially declared of significant historical value.[4]
Medan is divided into three settlements. The colonial settlement is the city centre and contains central government infrastructure, the shopping area of Kesawan, the military area between the Deli and the Babura Rivers, the affluent tropical garden city of Polonia, the central market, as well as various churches, hospitals, schools, factories, train stations, and the former airport. The Chinese settlement is a dense area on the eastern side of the Deli River, and intersects with Kesawan. The sprawling Muslim native settlement is located around three Muslim architectural works: the Istana Maimun (1888), Istana Lama (late 19th-century, now demolished) and the Great Mosque (1907) at the southern end of the city next to Kesawan and the Chinese settlements. Here, the Dutch redesigned the main buildings in an Orientalistic-Imperialist style, symbolising the dominance of the colony's cultural and political control.[5]
Medan's architecture, was closely linked to Penang Island's, as wealthy residents and the colonial government hired British and Dutch architects from the Straits Settlements. The central open plaza was called the Esplanade, similar to the one in George Town; it is now called Lapangan Merdeka. Shophouse construction and facades mimic those in the Straits. Kesawan's architecture fuses Dutch-British Tropical styles. Like other Indies cities, junctions were designed as nodes, where the corner buildings have a unique facade facing the junction. These included towers, a rounded or oblique construction, or a set-back, giving each building a unique look resulting in different urban nodes. Examples include the AVROS building (now the BKS-PPS building) and the warenhuis (department store; now the mostly-abandoned Angkatan Muda Pembaharuan Indonesia building).[5]
Despite this abundance, many colonial buildings are being demolished. Non-governmental organizations claimed that almost 90% of the 42 protected buildings had either been demolished or modified, despite provincial ruling No. 6/1988 which bans the tamperingh of these buildings. 73 buildings had not yet been protected; an example is the Mega Eltra building, constructed in 1912. It has since been demolished. Other heritage buildings that have been demolished are the Kerapatan building on Jl. Brig. Jen. Katamso, a bank building on Jl. Pemuda and the Public Works office on Jl. Listrik.[4] These events are reasoned to the lack of city planning by the city's officials and the minimal awareness of history in Medan.[3]
- ^ "History". N.V. Deli Maatschappij. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
- ^ Dick 2002, pp. 95, 103.
- ^ a b Asmyta, Surbakti. "Penghancuran Estetika Kota: Bangunan Bersejarah di Kota Medan". University of North Sumatra. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ a b The Jakarta Post, 2002.
- ^ a b Widodo, p. 2.