Historical building awaits attention
Suherdjoko, Contributor, Semarang
A tourist visiting the city was surprised to see a huge, unique building that stands in a strategic area adjacent to Tugu Muda monument had been left abandoned. It was in a poor condition, dirty and gloomy.
"It's a pity. The building has historical value and could become a tourist attraction," Saraswati, a resident of Yogyakarta, sighed. She wondered why the local administration did not turn it into a hotel, or at least an office building.
She was referring to Gedung Lawang Sewu, which literally means a building with a thousand doors, at the end of Jl. Pemuda. It is called Gedung Lawang Sewu because it has many doors. The upper part of each door takes a shape of an arch with holes on it.
The two-story building has an L shape, with the corner facing the Tugu Muda monument. The main door is located just at the corner and is sandwiched by two towers, each with an octagonal cupola on top.
It was designed by two Dutch architects, C. Citroen, from the firm J.F. Klinkhamer, and B.J. Quendag, in 1862 for Nederlandsch Indische Spoorwegmaatschapij, or NIS, the first train company in Java. Officials of the company who worked in the building monitored the Semarang-Tanggung and Tanggung-Kedungjati train routes, as well as the Kedungjati-Surakarta, Surakarta-Yogyakarta and Kedungjati-Ambarawa routes.
The trains were operated to transport plantation commodities in the area of the Yogyakarta and Surakarta kingdoms, which were under the colonial government. Those commodities were exported to other countries.
The first railway was made in Java following the completion of road construction from Anyer to Panarukan during the administration of Daendles.
At that time, the building faced Wilhelmina Park, a beautiful recreational area with facilities to play music. In front of the building, a city tram on the Bulu to Jomblang route used to pass. The tram tracks was still there until the 1980s, but now, there is no sign of them as the road has been leveled and covered over with asphalt.
Gedung Lawang Sewu also reflected the approach of the architects who made the design to suit the local climate. Therefore, the architecture in the century became contextual, and was called Indische.
In October 1945 war broke out when Indonesians fought Japanese soldiers. During the Five-Day War, the ground in front of the building became a battlefield and many Indonesian fighters were killed there.
Today, Gedung Lawang Sewu is totally abandoned. Many of the windows and doors are rotten and moss covers much of the walls, while the yard is dirty. The once magnificent building now looks like it is haunted and is home to many swallows, spiders and bats. Local people even call it sarang hantu (ghost headquarters). Maybe it is not true, but one thing is clear: the building is very neglected.
The state of Gedung Lawang Sewu is in stark contrast to the surrounding buildings. Opposite is the luxury official house of the governor while a bank can be seen across Jl. Pemuda and a cathedral is situated to the south of the building, all of them well maintained.
A private company reportedly planned in the 1990s to turn the building into a hotel. However, development of the plan did not reach fruition. Semarang mayor Sukawi Sutarip does not know what to do with the building.
"We simply try to maintain the original design of old buildings in Semarang that are on the list of protected buildings," he told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview. He added the local administration still lacked a strong legal basis to protect old buildings. As a result, some building owners changed the design.
The fate of old buildings in Semarang is sad indeed. At least 15 of 176 protected buildings were leveled or totally renovated by the owners, according to research in 1996 and 1997 by deputy chairwoman of the Central Java chapter of the Indonesian Architects' Association Widya Wijayanti. "Maybe the total has increased since then," she said.