By Ida Indawati Khouw

Of the numerous buildings and structures in downtown Kota, one never fails to catch the eye with its distinctive bright red color. The Toko Merah (Red Shop), an 18th century Dutch residential building, is one of the most important pieces of the city's heritage. This article, the 55th in a series on historic and protected buildings and sites in Jakarta, takes a look at the history of this eye-catching building.

JAKARTA (JP): The office of state-owned trading company PT Dharma Niaga on Jl. Kali Besar Barat in downtown Kota, wedged in among the white and gray building that crowd the area, is easy to spot thanks to its striking red color.

The building is known as Toko Merah (Red Shop), although it was originally designed and built as a house.

At a glance, the building, occupying 2,455 square meters of land, does not look particularly large. However, once you enter the structure you gain an appreciation for its grandeur.

The building still boasts spacious rooms and beautiful ornaments, typical of the mansions of prominent figures in the era of old Batavia.

The house was built in 1730 and its first occupant was Governor-General Baron van Imhoff. He occupied the north wing and the south wing was taken up by his widowed mother-in-law, Johanna Catharina Pelgroom.

Originally, the building consisted of two living spaces, the front, or north, of the house and the back of the house, with the two areas separated by windows, says Thomas Ataladjar, the public relations officer at PT Dharma Niaga.

The front living space appears to have had two stories, while the back had three.

"I think the third story was added later, shown by the plain carvings on the stairs leading to the (third) floor. Old stairs usually had complicated carvings," says Thomas, who has done research on the building over the last five years.

The area of Kali Besar, located near Kali Besar River, became an upscale residential area in the 18th century after a number of wealthy families built houses along the banks of the river. Previously, it had been a residential area for the Chinese, but their houses were burned down during a bloody riot in 1740.

Toko Merah is such an unusual and historically important building it is made mention of in a number of old Dutch books as well as in recent publications.

"There are five old and recent publications which discuss the building," says Eka Kartika Sanur, a University of Indonesia graduate who wrote her thesis on the building.

Thomas says the most important part of the building is the front room, which currently is used as a meeting room. "In 1901 the room's floor, ceiling and all of its doors and windows were moved to what is now the National Museum at the request of the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences.

"The items were removed to build a Compagnie's Kamer (Company Room) because the society wanted to preserve the architectural history of their ancestors," he said.

However, the owner of the building at the time, the Bouw Maatschappij Toko Merah, demanded replicas be made of everything removed from the room.

Some original items from Toko Merah can be found in the National Museum on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta.

The ownership of the building itself has changed many times, with most of the owners being prominent Dutch officials or wealthy figures.

Besides Imhoff, three other governors-general resided in the building: Jacob Mossel, Reinier de Klerk and Van der Parra.

From 1743 to 1755, the building also housed the Academie de Marine (Marine Academy), which was founded by Imhoff.

In his book Historical Sites of Jakarta, Adolf Heuken writes that the marine academy was the first in Asia and one of the first in the world.

House of widows

The building also was owned by a number of wealthy widows over its history.

Thomas says at least three widows owned the estate at some point. He said one of these women was governor-general Mossel's daughter, Phillipine Theodore Mossel, whose first husband died. She eventually remarried Nicolaas Hartingh, who was the governor of northern Java.

Another was Sophia Francina Westpalm, the widow of Hugo Verijjsel and De Klerk.

The building also once belonged to Johanna Cornelia Wischmans, the widow of Christian Lodewijk Senff.

The name Toko Merah only appeared in 1851, when the property was owned by Chinese merchant Oey Liauw Kong, says Thomas. The name came about because Liauw Kong used the building as his residence and also as a shop.

But according to Heuken, the red bricks of the building were added only after 1923, when the building was restored by Bank voor Indie. Before then the building was white, the same as the other buildings in the area.

The building then became known as Toko Merah, although it was no longer used as shop, he says.

The property was purchased in 1934 by Dutch company N.V. Jacobson van den Berg, the forerunner of PT Dharma Niaga.

Toko Merah is the last large residential building from the Batavia era that still exists in Kota, Heuken said.