Category: Center Of Jakarta

2/18/2016 0 Comments

Menteng District - part 3

This third part of Menteng District article will review about places on the west side of Menteng area and will be the last part. We talked a lot about places from colonial era in the first and second part, the third part is about the next era. Era of Soekarno.

Hotel Indonesia ( HI )

HI was one of the first 5-star hotels in the country, better yet in South East Asia, and has been the city's landmark. In front of the hotel stands the "Welcome statue" or Tugu Selamat Datang to welcoming the guests who visited Jakarta on the occasion of the 4th Asian Games in 1962. The hotel was initiated by President Soekarno in preparation for the Asian games and was officially opened on August 5th, 1962.

In 2004, HI started a big interior renovation and opened again in 2009 as Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta. The iconic building is now managed by European hotel group. They safe some memorabilia from the original HI and display them in some areas of the hotel.

This is a corner from one of the entrances, they display pictures from the opening ceremonial back in August 5th, 1962. Across the photo collages, are the two elevators that actually the first two elevators in Jakarta and still functioning well.

The picture right up above is the famous painting "Flora Fauna Puspa Indonesia" of Lee Man Fong that is placed on the lobby of Bali Room. He was one of Soekarno's favorite artists. The painting represents Indonesia's identity and great richness. It is a pity when I took this picture, there was a wedding reception preparation and there was a white wall decor covered some part on the left and right side of the masterpiece.
The art was painted with oil paint on a wooden board and glued to the wall. It had been an integral part of the hotel since it was built. During close period whether before the big renovation started in 2004 or before re-opened in 2009 (I forgot this detail), they rescued the masterpiece before shipped away in a cargo. Explained my tour guide from the front desk crew. Very lucky!

The original door handle

The scissor that was used by Soekarno to cut the ribbon in opening ceremonial

Pictures above, are some paintings that were selected directly by President Soekarno and displayed in the old HI. Now, they were display in the memorabilia corner.

S A R I N A H

Sarinah is a 15 storey department store located in jalan M. H. Thamrin. Start to built in 1963 and inaugurated in 1967 by Soekarno. Sarinah is the first shopping center in Indonesia and also the first skyscraper in Jakarta. The name Sarinah was originally belong to an au pair who took care of young Soekarno. Sarinah was meant to be a shopping center that can provide people with good quality products with affordable price.

St. Theresia Church

Theresia church was built in 1934 designed by Fermont-Cuypers bureau. Although the design had been made in 1926 by R.K. Kerk en pastorie Gondangdia and Ghijsels made his design version before 1925 but non of those designs got realized. Entering the world’s economic crisis, every project were on hold. Teresia church was built after the great depression with some changes in its design. The church was meant to built similar as Paulus church but had to be simplified in order to have saved some budget. Two years after Teresia church built, Paulus church was built in 1936. You can read about Paulus church at Menteng District - part 1.

Antique houses in Menteng

[Above] A very nice detail of the design. Look at those tinted glass. This is a private property (I guess), but don't know for sure does anybody live in this house. It looks abandoned. Nevertheless, Its beauty still attract me to take some shots.

This is the one and only mansion left in jalan Cikini Raya. It belonged to late Hasyim Ning and now, I believe it was passed to his descendant. Hasyim Ning (1916-1995) was a wealthy businessman.

There is a chocolaterie in jalan HOS Cokroaminoto called Dapur Cokelat. The shop is a gorgeous antique house with shingle roof. And like any other chocolate shop, the interior is just lovely. Dapur Cokelat is Indonesian chocolate product. If you come by to the shop, don’t forget to try their chocolate milk. It is sooo.. yummy!

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11/17/2015

The Menteng District - part 2

From the previous post in September, The Menteng District part 1 we learned the history of Menteng back in the colonial era, where the Dutch designed Menteng as the first garden city ‘tuinstad’ in Indonesia (formerly known as Dutch East Indies). Menteng was developed second after Kota Tua, where Jakarta or shall we say, Batavia back then, was covered by trees. Nowadays, because of its long period of time existence, Menteng has tall big trees and colonial buildings or houses where it is pleasantly to live in.

Menteng district is divided into 5 administrative villages or in our term, kelurahan (pronounce: keh-loo-raa-haan) : Menteng, Pegangsaan, Cikini, Kebon Sirih, Gondangdia.

Our guest house, Shraya Residence, is located right in the middle of jalan Surabaya, kelurahan Menteng of Menteng district (Kecamatan Menteng) just opposite the antique market. Jalan Surabaya is famous of its antique market on the left side of the street. It was originally started from some flea merchants came from pasar rumput (a traditional market from Manggarai area) back in 1960s selling home appliances on the side walk of jalan Surabaya. Among the goods, they sell antiques which turned out to be a popular item that people looked for. Since then, the merchants sell more antiques that attract more people and antique collector. In 1974 the government started to re-arranged the flea shops into a semi-permanent shop to be more presentable for tourist.

Jalan Cilacap, just next to jalan Surabaya, is where the colonial building (built in 1923) turned in to a beautiful hotel, The Hermitage. We wrote about The Hermitage in our previous post, you can read about it at http://www.shrayaresidence.com/shraya-kulture/colonial-building-turned-into-a-hotel .

If you walk further from jalan Surabaya to jalan Diponegoro direction, just before a red light, there's an intersection if you turn right into jalan Pasuruan, it will lead you to jalan Teuku Cik Ditiro. There, you can find coffeeshop, restaurants, hospitals, money changer, ATMs.

A particular restaurant called Bunga Rampai is a very lovely place. Beautiful as in architectural, interior, and the food. We also wrote about this restaurant in previous post. Click this link: http://www.shrayaresidence.com/shraya-kulture/lovely-restaurant-in-our-neighborhood-bunga-rampai to read all about it.

If you go straight from jalan Teuku Cik Ditiro (it is a one way street) to jalan RP Soeroso, you will entering Gondangdia area. Three restaurants in Gondangdia that have been there for 20 years or perhaps more. They are: Paramount, Trio, and Mie (noodle) Gondangdia. Paramount is a Chinese restaurant that often have wedding receptions famous for their Nanking chicken and crab soup. Trio is serving delicious black pepper beef, and other Chinese dishes. Mie Gondangdia is famous for its Ayam goreng mentega and puyunghai.

Cikini area is side by side with Gondangdia. Cikini has more commercial places than Gondangdia. You need anything, you name it, you can find it in Cikini. From eateries, bakeries, laundry shop, office or printing necessities, pharmacies, grocery stores, supermarket, jewelry shop, flower market, banks, office buildings, hotels, apartments, movie theaters, an art auditorium, until an Olympic sized swimming pool. Some eateries in Cikini area was already reviewed in our previous post, you can find it at http://www.shrayaresidence.com/shraya-kulture/eateries-in-jalan-cikini-raya . And.. an update of this previous post, a restaurant called Java Bleu already closed. Such a pity.

The hidden gem in Cikini area, I must say, it is the house of Raden Saleh. Raden Saleh was an aristocratic Javanese with an Arabic blood and became so famous because he was a briliant painter. His house is the only colonial building built not by the Dutch. Please read about his fabulous house at http://www.shrayaresidence.com/shraya-kulture/house-of-raden-saleh
Below are some of Raden Saleh's paintings and his house.

In Cikini you will find a gold center. It is a jewelry shop building, where in the basement you can find the traditional market that originally was located on that spot since as long as I can remember. I still remember accompanying my grandmother going to pasar Cikini to buy fruits, meats, anything. Even perfume shop.

If you just walk straight on Cikini Raya, and at the end of the street, on your left, you will find a movie theater with an Art Deco design, called Metropole XXI. Of course back then, it still called Metropole 21. The XXI means the theater already renovated with the new standard from the 21 cinema company. Even until this day, they still renovating for the food area. I just love the architecture, makes you feel that watching a movie with style.

Museum Joang 45

In kelurahan Kebon Sirih, we have a museum that has an important role toward our Independence day. It is Museum Joang 45 and located in jalan Menteng Raya no. 31. Just before jalan Cikini Raya. This old building was a hotel (Hotel Schomper) built in 1938 by a Dutch businessman named LC Schomper. The hotel was meant for senior Dutch official, foreign businessmen, and local officials. When the Japanese invaded Indonesia, hotel Schomper controlled by Indonesian youth and used as dormitories and nationalism education for young men who fight for Indonesia’s independence. The name was replaced into Menteng 31 building. In 1973 the government was doing some renovation and in 1974 it was inaugurated by President Suharto and Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin as Museum Joang 45 or we all call it as Gedung Joang 45.

On the back of the main building, there is an open area where they keep three cars of Soekarno and Hatta.

Mobil Rep-1
A Buick limosine sedan 1939 fabricated by General Motor, US, was the first president car, and used by President Soekarno in his duty.
The former owner of this car was actually the Head of Japanese Transportation Department, who got stollen by an Indonesian republic (RI) fighter and handed over to Bung Karno.

Mobil Rep-2
This car was owned by a company called Djohan Djohor, belonged to a businessman who was the uncle of Moh. Hatta. He gave his car to Bung Hatta in order to help his mobilization in struggled for independence and avoided the Japanese plundering. This car has served Bung Hatta in doing his role as vice president.

Mobil Peristiwa Cikini (Cikini Incident car)
This Imperial beauty was the car that used by President Soekarno when grenade explosion in front of Perguruan Cikini school. President Soekarno was using this car to attend a bazaar event in that school.
The grenade explosion was a murder attempt of President Soekarno in November 30th, 1957, around 9 o’clock in the evening. The victims were 9 people died and 55 people injured including students and the president’s guard.

Menteng is an old neighborhood with residence that have been living in this district from generation to generation. We love our tall trees, narrow streets, old buildings, along with all its ugliness. Understanding the history of this city, it is saddened when you watch old buildings or houses abandoned until it crumble or demolished just so people could build a tall, prestigious concrete that doesn't goes along with the city's design. Usually they are a new resident in Menteng and didn't really understand the meaning of garden city and the beauty of a graceful heritage building. -SK-

9/3/2015 0 Comments

The Menteng District - part 1

At the time when Jakarta was known as Batavia, Menteng area was designed to be the first garden city (tuinstad) in Indonesia. Menteng is a residential area (from back then and up until now). The early design for the lay out of houses in Menteng area was each of every house built in a middle of spacious garden that planted with shade trees and various flowers to create a fresh atmosphere. The terrace was the favorite place of the house to lounged where you can enjoy your cup of tea in the afternoon accompanied by bitterballen or croquette (a savoury Dutch snack) or simple banana fritter after a day activity. While enjoying the breeze, you can hear the shout out of street vendor passing by selling bakso or semprong or serabi (Indonesian traditional food). Nowadays, a house such as described above is only left a few.

Tempo.co

Bouwmaatschappij N.V. de Bouwploeg together with P.A.J. Moojen (1879-1955) were the initiator in designing road pattern and built Nieuw-Gondangdia, the former name of Menteng. Moojen designed Indische Woonhuizen or Tropical Classicism, where the particular elements had been faded and soften the typical European classicism.
They built an office building, Bouwploeg building (gedung Boplo) in 1912 which is now turned into a mosque of Cut Meutia. If you see the pictures below, you’ll notice there is a discontinuation of the big staircase from the second floor. The staircase didn’t end up on the first (ground) floor, where it was in the middle of the entrance hall. It was remodeled to have more space for people to pray.

Moojen designed and built Bataviasche Kunstkring (1913) on the entree of Gondangdia, which was used as the Immigration office in 1997. Kunstkring is an art gallery and a technical bureau (Kunst = art; Kring = circle). Now, in the present time, Kunstkring turned back into an art gallery which also a restaurant.

Kunstkring is located in jalan Teuku Umar. Just opposite the street, there is this old house that attract my attention. This house was built around 1910 and from the black and white picture that was taken in 1939, there was a kiosk just in front of the house. Back then, you can found a kiosk such as this one in every intersection in Menteng.

If we go straight in jalan Teuku Umar away from Kunstkring, we will find Taman (park) Suropati that was once named Burgemeester Bisschopplein after the first Batavia mayor's name, G.J. Bisshop (1916-1920). There is a turn to the left before Taman Suropati, that will lead you to Taman Situ lembang an artificial lake. The park is quite nice suitable for children to take a stroll in the afternoon or morning.

Suropati park
Address: Jl. Taman Suropati

Suropati park is the meeting point of three main road; jalan Teuku Umar, jalan Diponegoro, and jalan Imam Bonjol. Perfect for jogging, walking your dog, or simply to read a book. If you are lucky, in Sunday morning you will find a small orchestra played by children. Their name is Taman Suropati Chamber. Have a look on the video below, I shared from youtube account: Kristin Dameria.

BAPPENAS building
A government office building that used to be a Vrijmetselarij Loge or the place where freemason member gather. Built in 1925 by Dutch architect F.J.L. Ghijsels born in Tulung Agung, East Java, in 1882.

Saint Paulus Church

Next door neighbor of Bappenas building is Saint Paulus church. An Art Deco architecture built in 1936 also by F. J. L. Ghijsels as the architect. From 1936 until 1948 the church was called Nassaukerk.

Museum Perumusan Naskah Proklamasi
Address: Jl. Imam Bonjol No.1

An Art Deco styled architecture, built in 1920s by Dutch architect J.F.L. Blankenberg. Owned by Nillmij insurance which is the forerunner of Jiwasraya insurance company. Aside of being a home of so many hosts, the most important point in our fight for freedom history, this house was the place where our first president, Soekarno, along with Hatta and Ahmad Soebardjo gathered to formulate our proclamation text that was read by Soekarno the next morning, August 17th 1945, in front of his house. The day that became Indonesia’s Independence day.

There are a lot of places that is interesting in Menteng district. I shall try to review most of it (one by one), but surely not in one article. Please follow our twitter @shrayakulture to find out an up date when we post the part 2 of this "The Menteng District" article. -SK-

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