Toko Merah (Indonesian "Red Shop") is a Dutch colonial landmark in Jakarta Old Town, Indonesia. Built in 1730, it is one of the oldest buildings in Jakarta. The building is located on the west side of the main canal Kali Besar. The building's red color contributes to its current name.
One of the famous guests of the building Toko Merah is William Bligh. [1]
Toko Merah was first built around 1730 by Gustaaf Willem, Baron van Imhoff, then a rising officer of the Dutch East Indies company working as the water tax officer (1730) and later first secretary and extraordinary council of the Indies (1731). Imhoff seem not to have lived long in the house as in 1736 Imhoff moved to Ceylon to assume the position of Dutch Ceylon Governor. Imhoff later returned to Batavia in 1743 to be appointed as the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. With this appointment, Imhoff would have been provided with the lavish residence in the premises of Batavia Castle, rendering his old town house obsolete. From 1743 to 1755, the building served as a Navy Academy. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Afterwards, the ownership of the building changed several times. The Jakarta tourism website claims that it was residence of several Governor generals, including Jacob Mossel (in office 1750–1761), Petrus Albertus van der Parra (1761–1775), and Reynier de Klerck (1777–1780). [6] But according to Diessen (1989: 165-166), it was never a residence of those governor generals but rather their close relatives. First, it was residence to Phillipine Theodora (Jacob Mossel's daughter) and her husband Nicolaas Hartingh, who was the Governor and Director of northeast Java from 1754 to 1761. Then it became the residence of the widow to Van der Parra and De Klerck respectively. [5]
The building was converted into a hotel from 1786 to 1808; the manager of the hotel built rows of carriage houses and stables to keep the hotel's eight carriages and its sixteen horses. These additional buildings were later converted into row houses. During the period, the building Toko Merah also provided six boats on the Kali Besar to transport goods from the Sunda Kelapa harbor. [1] [3] In 1851, the building was purchased by Oey Liauw Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen of Batavia, for use as his residence and shop, and was painted red, and so it was known as Toko Merah. [2]
The building was restored by J.F. van Hoytema in 1920. [7] It was the office for the Bank voor Indië between 1920 and 1940. Afterwards, the building was used as the office of Jacobson van den Berg, an international Dutch-owned company. [8]
After the nationalization of Dutch companies in 1957, Toko Merah became an office for various state-owned enterprises e.g. PT. Satya Niaga (1972) [9]
The aim is to restore Toko Merah as a conference hall and a commercial gallery. [1] The plan is that current (mid-2012) restorations will be complete by the end of 2012. [10]
The architecture style of the building follows the earliest period of Dutch colonial architecture. The style were basically the tropical counterparts of 17th century Dutch architecture. Typical features include the typically Dutch high sash windows with split shutters, [11] and gable roofs. [11] The building was solidly built with relatively enclosed structures, a structure that is not very friendly to tropical climate as compared to the Dutch colonial architecture of the next period in Jakarta. [11]
The building is located in Jakarta Old Town, the historic center of Jakarta. It is within a walkable distance from other cultural heritage displaying the history Batavia e.g. Jakarta History Museum, Wayang Museum, and the Sunda Kelapa harbor.
Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta and formerly known as Batavia until 1949, is the nation's capital city and the centre of the largest metropolis of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta is the largest metropole in Southeast Asia, and serves as the diplomatic capital of ASEAN. Jakarta is bordered by two provinces: West Java to the south and east; and Banten to the west. The Special Capital Region has a status equivalent to that of a province. Its coastline faces the Java Sea to the north, and it shares a maritime border with Lampung to the west. Jakarta's metropolitan area is ASEAN's second largest economy after Singapore.
Gustaaf Willem, Baron van Imhoff was a Dutch colonial administrator for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He served as Governor of Ceylon from 1736 to 1740 and as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1743 until his death in 1750 at Istana Cipanas.
Menteng is a district in the administrative city of Central Jakarta, Indonesia. Menteng is surrounded by the districts of Senen and Matraman to the east, Tebet and Setiabudi to the south, Tanah Abang to the west, and Gambir to the north. Menteng is bound by the West Flood Canal to the west, Ciliwung River to the south and east, and Kebon Sirih Road to the north. Menteng is the district seat of the Central Jakarta government.
Betawi people, or Batavians, are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the city of Jakarta and its immediate outskirts, as such often described as the native inhabitants of the city. They are the descendants of the people who inhabited Batavia from the 17th century onwards.
Senen is a long-established urban district of Central Jakarta, Indonesia that has kept many tourist attractions such as two museums, the National Library of Indonesia, Gelanggang Remaja Senen, and narrow alleys with old Chinese and similar style shops and restaurants. It was first developed in the 18th century as Pasar Senen when Governor Daendels established the bovenstad as the new center of government of the fledgling city. Its core remains in what is now the lower-division Senen Ditrict, Kwitang, Kenari, Paseban, Kramat, and Bungur. Senen is bounded by a railway line to the east, Ciliwung River to the west, Pramuka Street to the south, and Abdul Rahman Saleh-Kwini II-Senen Raya IV Street to the north. The name is derived from Pasar Senen,.
Kota Tua Jakarta, officially known as Kota Tua, is a neighborhood comprising the original downtown area of Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as Oud Batavia, Benedenstad, or Kota Lama.
Adriaan Valckenier served as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1737 to 1741. He is primarily known for his role in the 1740 Batavia massacre. Valckenier was arrested for his involvement in 1742 and subsequently died in prison in Batavia almost a decade later.
Jacob Mossel went from being a common sailor to become Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1750 to 1761.
The Jakarta History Museum, also known as Fatahillah Museum or Batavia Museum, is located in the Old Town of Jakarta, Indonesia. The building was built in 1710 as the Stadhuis of Batavia. Jakarta History Museum opened in 1974 and displays objects from the prehistory period of the city region, the founding of Jayakarta in 1527, and the Dutch colonization period from the 16th century until Indonesia's Independence in 1945.
Cut Meutia Mosque is a mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia. The mosque is named after an Indonesian national heroine, Cut Nyak Meutia (1870–1910), who took part in the struggle against Dutch colonialism in Aceh. The mosque was originally a Dutch property before it was finally transformed into a mosque.
A landhuis is a Dutch colonial country house, often the administrative heart of a particuliere land or private domain in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Many country houses were built by the Dutch in other colonial settlements, such as Galle, Cape Town and Curaçao, but none as extensively or elaborately as in the Residency of Batavia. Much of Batavia's reputation as "Queen of the East" rested on the grandeur of these 18th-century mansions.
Colonial buildings and structures in Jakarta include those that were constructed during the Dutch colonial period of Indonesia. The period succeeded the earlier period when Jakarta, governed by the Sultanate of Banten, were completely eradicated and replaced with a walled city of Batavia. The dominant styles of the colonial period can be divided into three periods: the Dutch Golden Age, the transitional style period, and Dutch modernism. Dutch colonial architecture in Jakarta is apparent in buildings such as houses or villas, churches, civic buildings, and offices, mostly concentrated in the administrative city of Central Jakarta and West Jakarta.
Pieter Adriaan Jacobus "Piet" Moojen was a Netherlands-Indies architect, painter and writer. He studied architecture and painting in Antwerp. He lived and worked in the Dutch East Indies from 1903 to 1929. He was one of the first architects to implement Modernism in the Dutch East Indies. Moojen became widely known for his work on the Dutch entry at the Paris Colonial Exposition in 1931. He was active as an architect between 1909 and 1931.
Ali bin Abdurrahman al-Habshi, better known as Habib Ali of Kwitang or Habib Ali Kwitang, was one of the leading Islamic clerics and preachers in Jakarta in the 20th century. He was also the founder and chairman of the Majelis Taklim Kwitang and Islamic Center Indonesia, which are the forerunners of other religious organizations in Jakarta.
Indies Empire style is an architectural style that flourished in the colonial Dutch East Indies between the middle of the 18th century and the end of the 19th century. The style is an imitation of the neoclassical Empire Style which was popular in mid-19th-century France. Conformed to the tropical setting of Indonesia, the style became known in the Dutch East Indies as the Indies Empire style.
Batavia Castle was a fort located at the mouth of Ciliwung River in Jakarta. Batavia Castle was the administrative center of Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Asia.
The National Archives Building is the building of the Government Museum in Jakarta, Indonesia. The building, formerly a late 18th-century private residence of Governor-General Reinier de Klerk, is part of the cultural heritage of Jakarta. The house is an archetypal Indies-Style house of the earliest period.
Cafe Batavia is a restaurant located in Kota Tua, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the colonial landmarks facing the square Taman Fatahillah. The building where Cafe Batavia is established is the second oldest building in the square, second only to the former City Hall building of Batavia, which had been reestablished as the Jakarta History Museum.
Alwi Shahab was an Indonesian journalist for more than 40 years who mainly focused on Jakarta's socio-cultural problems. His career began in 1960 as a journalist at the Arabian Press Board news agency in Jakarta.
Oey Liauw Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen (1799–1865) was a Chinese-Indonesian high official, Landheer (landlord) and head of the Oey family of Kemiri, part of the 'Tjabang Atas' or Peranakan gentry. He was also the owner of the 18th-century Baroque mansion and Jakarta landmark, Toko Merah.
