Batavian Shop-house and Terrace-house (1)

Diagram of a Shop-house

Shop-house or Ruko in Indonesian is a type of existing buildings throughout Indonesia, even in the remotest town. A shop-house usually has two or more levels that the ground floor is for shop and the floors above is for living. In the past because of construction limitations, a shop-house is only erected two floors. Now people built a shop-house up to three or four floors. There is also one story shop-house, of which the front part is for shop and the rear part is for living. Usually a shop-house has a ground plan up to 30 meters extending to the rear, while the frontage is narrow, only 4-5 meters. A shop-houses barely gets a yard, even if it has, it is a narrow front yard adjacent to the street, and of course, they do not have trees.
 

There is no shop-house that stands alone but in a row. At that rows the roofs are extending likes a long house. There is also a shop-houses row that its roof has separated wall of each shop-house but still one row. In china town (pecinan) where the shop-houses were built several centuries ago, each shop roof in a row has a different height, as they were built in a different time. There was a belief that if one built a house; the roof should be higher than the roof of the house next door that was built previously.
Shop-houses in large cities usually only have a door on the front. So if there is a fire, the occupants are difficult to save themselves. In the long shop-house the ground plan is usually extending to the street behind the shop-house. Well, for this shop-house had a back door that is very private and beyond the back door directly into the living room.
 

From the front of the shop one must pass a dark alley to get a quiet living room. In the living room there is a well for their daily water needs. Above the well is open so that rain water can get into the well. Around the well residents can plant flowers in pots. The family room is cold and cool. Contrast to the street in front of the shop-house which is very hot and arid.

But there are houses of which front are not for shop but the living room. The house is called the terrace-house. On the front side of a terrace house there is always a veranda of 1 - 1.5 meters width for sitting to enjoy coffee in afternoon. A terrace house form is similar to the shop-house, but its front door is small. This terrace house is always present in the densely populated city of Southeast Asia. Its door and window always have a beautiful ornament for this section is the only one that can be seen from the street. The roof of the house is the same as the shop-house, lining with divided roof or in a single large roof.
 

Both house types are encountered in densely populated Batavia, the old town of Jakarta. Both have their own characteristics that are different from the same type of building elsewhere. What's special to the shop-house and terrace-house in Batavia? Keep this article.

Batavian Shop-house and Terrace-House (2)

Interior of a Shop

Within the walls of Batavia city, the houses are shop-houses and terrace-houses. From the map in 1733 illustrated clearly that all the houses within the walls did not have a yard and directly adjacent to the street. It shows the area within the walls had a high density. That's why VOC officials built new houses along Molenvliet, now named Gajah Mada and Jalan Hayam Wuruk streets.
 

In contrast to the shop-house in Chinatown that the front door was open as wide as the shop width, in Batavia shop-houses was not opened as wide as the shop width, but the facade had several wide windows and a wide door. They did not open the shop with the merchandise reaching until the street in reams of irregular, but more neat and orderly. In Roa Malaka above the door and the window were ornamented with small boxes ornate made of glass, similar to the houses in Netherlands of that era. 

Their shop-houses were not narrow in front and elongated into, but wide at the facade. From the pictures Josias Cornelis Rappard an Infantry Colonel KNIL (Dutch royal army) we can see that the store in Batavia was wide and even divided into two spaces. The shop was not open to the street but the façade of the store had several large windows. The interior of the store was also well laid out and organized than the shop-houses in the Chinatown Glodok. The goods to be sold were not merchandise such as agricultural products, but the porcelain, clocks and products that did not pollute the floor. It showed that the Dutch loved of neatness and cleanliness of the store. Shoppers’ clothes were neatly dressed in a suit and tie.
 

If we trace further, the house style at the beginning of the construction of Batavia in the east side of Ciliwung River and construction of houses in the west side of the river, after the river was straightened out, is different. The houses in the east built in the era of Jan Pieterszoon Coen are more towards a mix of Dutch and Chinese styles. But at the time of the construction of houses in the west Kali Besar, the Dutch government wanted to eliminate all Chinese-ness style. The houses in Leuweenstraat in the eastern part of Batavia showed a mixture of Chinese and Dutch architectural style due to the Chinese contractor and builders. Meanwhile Gustaf von Imhoff’s house located in the west Kali Besar, totally out of Chinese-ness style, even a very European one. Why?
 

At the time of house construction at the western part of Batavia, according to the Governor-General Hendrick Brouwer less reflected European style and finally the contract with the contractor Jan Con was aborted. A few moments later, the city development was continued again. However, the architectural style was really in control, should not be "contained" Chinese style, should be the truly European architectural style. Jan Con was Chinese who carried the scent of Chinese architecture, while the Dutch wanted Dutch house style. Unfortunately we are not able to obtain data on the house style in the west of the Kali Besar because in the riots in 1740 the houses were burned down, only the former house of Gustaf van Imhoff and  a row of shop-houses that still exist. Houses pictures in Batavia we find are only from Johannes Rach who painted many parts of Batavia in 1760 or after 1740 riots. The question remains: how was the house architectural style of Nie Hoe Kong, a Chinese captain who was jailed after the 1740 riot?

Tourism in Batavia – Old Jakarta

Tourist at The Plaza of Fatahilah Museum

Jakarta is not a place that interests many tourists like Bali. Although there are tidy streets such as Sudirman and Thamrin Streets, they are not tourist shopping streets. The only tourism point of interest is the old Jakarta town or previously called Batavia. Since the town has been deteriorated and many buildings such as the castle that supposed to be a tourist’s point of interest have been destroyed, a few tourists are willing to visit it. There are a few old buildings that are still in good condition, however the environment is worsened. These are the challenge of the government to revitalized old Jakarta. Nowadays there is revitalization project in old Jakarta so that several buildings were closed for renovation. But the preservation of the old buildings is not planned in a holistic frame work with other problems.
 

One of the tourism focuses of the town is Fatahilah Museum or Jakarta history museum that formerly was the town hall. This is not the initial town house built in the same time with the construction of Batavia; this building was constructed in 1707 until 1712. A century later its facade was changed into present form. Thank God that Daendels did not destroy this building although many old buildings in Batavia were destroyed along with the town wall. The material of their ruins was used to build the governmental complex south of the old town as the new Batavia. Fatahilah Museum keeps a lot of old furniture that was used since Batavia was built. Hence inside the building we could see the ancient life of the town. This building has a long history at its back yard. There are also rooms that were used as prison that is located under the main building.
 

In front of Fatahilah Museum, across the plaza is Batavia Cafe. It was a tourists’ favorite restaurant in old Jakarta. Unlike other buildings in the surrounding which is already in art-deco, the building is still in original form of Batavian shop house. Inside the restaurant we could enjoy the nuance of old Batavia. Several other restaurants are also used part of the old building such as café at the formerly dockyard.
 

Not far from Fatahilah Museum is the Great River or Kali Besar. Along the river row of shop houses was located, lining in the East and the West side of the river. Several shop houses are still original. One of the houses, colored in red with unique interior was the house of formerly Dutch governor general Gustaff von Imhoff.
 

In old Jakarta, only at the plaza before the Fatahilah Museum and its surrounding is used as pedestrian. The other locations suffered traffic jam. Hence tourists always try to get rid of this horrific area. Consequently, only a few tourists are willing to visit old Jakarta. Besides such complicated problem there is no tourist attraction but untidy place. It would be different if the government revitalized many sites such as the then old castell that would be a new attraction for tourism. However it is difficult to revitalize the destroyed old buildings as they embed many complex inheritance problems that is almost impossible to be solved.  
 

Other tourism problem in old Jakarta is dirtiness. Not only the great river Kali Besar where the water is black polluted, people also throw garbage almost everywhere. During the day there are a lot of vendor who open their merchandise at the street side creating messy street side. All of this gives a bad impression for tourists and other Jakarta’s inhabitant.
However, we appreciate the effort of city government to revitalize the old town of Jakarta - Batavia. We believe this effort is not only give a positive impact for tourism, more over it will increase the quality of life in Jakarta. Old Jakarta was and is the identity of the urban life emergence in Indonesia as a whole.

The Old Town and Urban Economics

Vendors Selling Food in Old Jakarta

If we walk in luxury Mall of Jakarta on the day off, we certainly meet visitors who are rich. They are wearing nice clothes, eating and drinking at an expensive restaurant. Not rarely they order food that cost more than one hundred thousand rupiahs for a portion. If we take a stroll in the mall hallway and thirsty there are vendors who sell drinks at a price of thirty thousand rupiahs at a time. Luxury in the mall of Jakarta is a magnet for the middle and high income class.
 

But if we go to the old town of Jakarta, the situation is very different. People, who visited there, are most of the middle and low income. At the edge of Jakarta History Museum square there are also vendors who sell drink, but the price is deal only six thousand rupiahs. There are expensive restaurants where the price of two portions of Soto Betawi and iced tea reaches two hundred thousand rupiahs. But this restaurant is full of foreign tourists. Meanwhile lower income society bought Soto Betawi on the sidewalk at a price of fifteen thousand rupiahs a portion
 

The question is why only foreign tourists and the lower income of society who visited the old city? Why the old city rarely visited by the have like the malls of Jakarta? This is a complicated question to answer because it is not just a matter of beauty but also economic problems.
 
The problem of beauty? We certainly see that the old town area is in decline. So many buildings are not maintained properly. Kali Besar (Ciliwung River) that divides the old town into two parts for example, is very dirty and stagnant so unsightly. Meanwhile many buildings are in ruins and therefore people only visited the square of Jakarta History Museum because the buildings around it are more organized. Perhaps this is the reason of the well-dressed people do not like to visit the old town.
 

From the economic point of view, in the old town of Jakarta there is not much on offer except the museum as a tourist attraction. Fancy restaurants are only a few, unlike in malls that restaurants line into a comfortable place to chat. In addition, if it rains, visitors will be busy looking for a place to take shelter. We should be heartened when we see a lot of people are overcrowded visiting the museum, it is the potency to drive growth in the old town.
 

Urban economic planning is not a problem of beautiful or not beautiful, but the socio-economic improvements that must be planned well. We certainly are looking forward to all, both the have and the have not, visiting the old town. If everyone likes to spent their leisure time in old town, not to mention the competition between malls to attract visitors, but the rivalry between the malls with the old town of Jakarta. However, social and economic planning is somehow also requires good environment planning. The urban economy will be able to run properly if the environment is clean. If social problems such as crime decrease, the old town would be an ideal place to live and run business. Not only visited by them from the middle and lower class but also the high economic class.

From Malls to Old City

Shops at Pasar Baru Open Untill 6:30 in The Evening

People of Jakarta are the happiest people strolling, shopping and enjoying the evening while dining. Most of this activity is carried out in Malls that were continuously built in all parts of the city. In the mall, people can see stuff, meet friends, and sit at the food court with family. The question is: Why this activity is not done in the historic Old Town? Whereas in Europe, this activity is carried out in the old city. Various ways have been made to revive the old city such as night markets or activities held at the art museum Fatahilah plaza. But all of this is temporary because after the event ends, the old city became quiet again.
 

Taking a walk at night is a necessity that cannot be avoided. The atmosphere has always been the theme of the evening served to visitors in luxurious shopping malls. So, in addition the present of design elements that give rise to the ancient atmosphere, the food court ceiling is also paint in black.
 

Architects are always thinking about how to organize a beautiful old city without thinking on what factors that encourage people to visit the old town. Additionally, architects cannot do much as they relate many things beyond their expertise such as reviving the economic activities. And do not forget, revitalizing the old town is also linked to the political development of the city. The Jakarta administration should be appreciated for their effort to revitalize the old city. However, it was not enough as it also requires the participation of the inhabitants of Jakarta. Meanwhile, the resident of Jakarta is passive in the revitalization of the old city. It now appears the various organizations for the old town; newspapers were instrumental in campaigning old city’s activities. But it seems all that is still lacking. The difficulties of city government are that many old buildings in the old city of Jakarta owned by companies, and the companies were closed at night.
 

In Europe, the weather is cold, a few people who like to walk at night, and they like to walk in the daytime when the sun is still there and not too cold. In contrast, in Indonesia, people always avoid taking a walk during the day because the weather is very hot. Even in the old city of Jakarta daytime temperatures reaching 37 degrees. So people prefer to take a walk at night where there is no sun. But how do they choose strolling in the old town in which the offices are closed and the atmosphere tends to be quiet? That is why people choose to take a walk in the malls rather than in the old town. Government efforts to revive the old city by doing a variety of activities such as night markets or evening food and snack center in the old town should be permanent. If you visit the old town and crowded, the revitalization will be easier on the run.
 

Not only the old town which is located surrounding Kali Besar, Glodok and Pasar Baru, that are actually part of the old town, always quiet at night too. In contrast to the surrounding area of Kali Besar, Glodok and Pasar Baru which are located in the south of the old city, is a row of shop houses that are inhabited at night. Anyhow, the area is also quiet at night. Glodok and Pasar Baru that are busy with people shopping in the daytime, all its stores closed when the sun sets. It's actually become part of the city government to be aware so that the evening activities are not confined to the Mall.
 

Leisure activity at night that is not only in the mall but in the old city center is also popular in Indonesia such as in the city of Yogyakarta which is located 538 km from Jakarta, it is in Malioboro street. The crowds peak at Malioboro Street is precisely at night when residents and tourists cornucopia there. Such activities must also be turned on in Jakarta. To plan the city is not an easy job. Changing human activities in order to open the stores in Glodok and Pasar Baru at night and change the behavior of city residents to go to Glodok and Pasar Baru when the sunset is not as easy as turning the hand.
But somehow we need to revive the old city of Jakarta!

Batavia is a Novel

The Oldest Shophouse in Batavia

Everywhere in the world, the rise and fall of a regime takes place in the capital city. The rise of Ming Dynasty in China is indicated by the movement od capital city from Xi’An to Beijing. Likewise in Java, the fall of Majapahit is followed by the rise of Demak city as the capital of Islamic kingdom. It happens in modern era. The fall of modern Indonesian regime took place in Jakarta and not in other Indonesian city. It is not too excessive to say that the theater stage of regime change is in the capital city with its wall, in the ancient time, and all its economics power.

A city is like a human being; she was born and could die. The born of a city was preceded by the growth of a trade knot at the cross roads or rivers. At this cross road trading in its simplest form is done. However, the growth of this city can be stopped because of war or natural disasters. Pompeii is perhaps an example of a city of the dead. In the dead city, a variety of remaining cultural artifacts is left behind while its living is gone. Not only the whole city is perished, but also part of the city can be dying though surrounded by lively city. The oldest quarter of Rome, we call it Foro Romano is dead, however it is surrounded by a metropolis. In addition, the city may also lose its history although the city itself is still there. Xi 'An example an old town, older than Chinese script, the only remaining is the city walls and ancient buildings such as bell and drum towers. The commoner’s houses and their culture is gone. At this point of time the city did not make dialectics but stops of the pulse of dynamics time. From this we can distinguish between archeology and architecture, archeology observe the dead city, while architecture designs the surviving part of the city.

Similarly, Batavia is hundreds of years old. The time lining from it was founded, the war, pestilence that happened, destruction of the castle and town walls, and the development of various art deco architecture and present form, is like the pages of thick novel. The remains of city wall, the maritime museum, the old tower of the port, the other old buildings, more over the building built during Batavia was founded, are the heritage that we must protect the legacy of damage.

It is the duty of urban planners to present a “readable novel”, livable old city, interesting to visit, create a miss, and should be the most humane part of the whole city.

A city is a Novel

Ruin in Old Jakarta

A city is an accumulation of human life from all different viewpoints. Even from the viewpoint of history, a city can be portrayed from the angle of political history, economics history, social history, as well as building history. In many higher learning, urban history becomes an independent subject. Consequently urban history turns out to be a sub-discipline (if we may not say a discipline). From urban history has developed different pattern about space and activity inside the space. Researches on urban history, in a single frame of sub-discipline, have developed in the cities of Asia and Europe. Even in Italy urban history is a subject prior to be analyzed before a building plan is laid out. In Italy, an architect there is an architect who needs years to understand the history of part a city before he could start to designed. Urban development that neglect the history is like delivering a baby who already died.

A city has spirit. Although it died, the spirit still haunts the human being. Even in a death city, its spirit and awesomeness are still present. Taman Sari or water castle of Yogyakarta for example, although she is already died, her spirit is still present among the inhabitant surrounding the castle and part of their religious life. Since a city is like human being, it should be understood like we read layers of event in space, superimposition of layers of human life. A city is seen from synchronic and diachronic. Synchronic is the depth of development phase and diachronic is how the city developed and “move” from time to time.

As superimposition many layers of times, a city is likened a thick novel divided into parts and chapters moving to several climaxes of a story. A city a theater of real life where besides building as its stage background, there is also politician who manage it and often corrupt and painful. Different to quiet village, a city is a “forest”, full of  guile start from bribery to opened prostitute. The dynamics of a city maybe is laid on how far the theater held a dialogue between actors. Nevertheless do not forget that a city is also a quiet theater. In developing counties, the subway is crowded by quiet people,  no know each other,   lonely in a haste.

From different angle and multi dimension we will highlight a city. Of course it is not an easy job as dimention means time dialectic. Opposite to that, a city often experiences cessation of time as the drama it performs lost its spirit.