Name : Taufik Hidayat

NPM : 1606931561
Class : Arsitektur Pusaka

House Review, Rumah Tuan Tanah Cimanggis

Figure 1. Front view of the house

http://arwanamin.blogspot.co.id/2016/04/rumah-tuan-tanah-cimanggis.html

Introduction
Rumah tuan tanah Cimanggis is one of the oldest historical building in Depok, according to the
historical and preservation rule, this particular house is considered to be worthy to be preserved,
with two main reason where it has its own significancy where it hold a role in opening land between
Jakarta and Bogor, and in fact the building is more than 200 years old, where these two meets the
criteria for building heritage class A. It is located on Jl. Raya Bogor km 34, in a RRI housing,
Cimanggis, Depok. The house was designed by David J. Smith in 1775 up until 1778. The house
used to be owned by Adrianna Johanna Bake, she is the widow of the General-governor of van der
Parra. Soon after Adriana passed away, the house was given to Smith with all of its furniture and
everything that is in the house including the garden and its pet. Sadly due to the missed payment for
the debt of the house, the house had to be confiscated. in 1997 the house was occupied by the RRI
employees, but the house was left unattended right now and severely damaged due to the
earthquake in 1843. Rumah Tuan Tanah Cimangis is an important historical piece because by its
design we can study the process of acculturation between the element of vernacular architecture and
European architecture that adapts the tropical climate.

The current state of the house is very devastating, a lot of damages have had happened throughout
the time, from both nature and the human factor itself. Most of the damage that human dad
inflicted upon the building was mainly in the form of vandalism, in the form of illegal graffiti. The
damage by is the worst by far mostly because the house was left without any proper maintenance,
the damage that came from the earthquake, termites that eating the wood structure slowly and it is
clearly visible that a lot of main structure collapsed. The result from the absence of the roof in the
middle of the house exposed to sunlight and rain can easily pour in, a lot of plants, mostly grass,
trees, and moss can grow quite easily there, in a way that it looks like nature is taking over the
building, and this is absolutely not in a good way. despite the fact that the building itself had
suffered a lot of damages, but luckily the main structure and its composition of the house elements
are still visible.

Figure 2. Parts of the house with its collapsed roof

http://arwanamin.blogspot.co.id/2016/04/rumah-tuan-tanah-cimanggis.html
History
Rumah Tuan Tanah Cimangis is also an important historical piece where it is acted as the business
centre of a land clearing between Jakarta and Bogor in the 18th century. The owner of the house, in
fact, owns a traditional market nearby, which at the time was an important post, where people that
travels between Jakarta and bogie to have a quick rest and exchange horses. The story of this house
was not only feeling about how rich the landowners back then, but it is a lot more than that, the
house was one of the historical pieces in order for historian to explore the existence of the General-
Governor of van der Parra, but also the workers, peasant, even slaves that do all of the works in land
clearing back in the days. This house eventually has the potential to tell the political or social that
occurred at that time, in the clearing of land to plantations and one of the forms of cultural or
architectural development that occurred due to acculturation of culture at the time.

Architecture
Rumah Tuan Tanah Cimangis is one of the example of a country house stye or landhaus in the18th
century. It is clearly shown by the veranda around the house, a symmetrical shape plan, and a high
roof extended to the porch to form wide eaves and usually comes with a large yard. The most
predominant material in this house are brick and wood, both of this material can be seen as a
mixture of culture based from a structure standpoint, looking from Asias side, a lot of natural
material such as wood or even bamboo are commonly used, but on the other side brick are material
that is brought by the European. The wood material can be seen on the door frames, window wills,
and the pillars. The brick can be found on the part of the walls and the pillars in the front porch. By
looking through what kind of material that the building use, it is one of the methods to check its
authenticity, despite the fact that there always a chance of a mixture of other material that is not
directly visible.

The interior of the house looks spacious mostly because of the height of the ceiling is higher than
regular residential houses. All of the experience are far from what it used to be, the grand
experience is gone mostly because of the damage that it has to go through. Imagine entering the
house welcomed by a majestic European-style pillars, with a beautifully carved door, all of these
giving the impression of a luxurious house, but sadly most of it are in a terrible shape. We can see a
column arrangement around the porch as one of the indies characteristic of the 18th century. Due to
lacking either wall structure or even a beam columns to bind all of those walls, the wall of the house
had to be thicker than the usual wall (40cm), to support the structure of the house. This also
indicates that the house was built around 18th century and still stands today.

Figure 3. Interior of the house

http://blognyawongbojong.blogspot.co.id/2009/07/rumah-tuan-tanah-cimanggis.html

Conclusion
The house is in critical condition where if it is left without any reconstruction, sooner or later that
there will be no more of it left for future generation to see. In term of doing a reconstruction or in
other terms, renovation, there are some rules that have to be applied, for example, the authenticity
of the building start from the material that it was used at the start, or at least that has the same
character of the original material. One major issue of the house that it is without its habitant, the
building is not functional to a level where it is close to impossible for people to use it due to the
severity of its damage, one simple fix is to change its function from a housing into another function
such as a museum, an art gallery, or even a restaurant. If there are a lot more activities that use the
space not only for the sake of getting the house fixed, but more importantly, by getting more people
to see or even experience the environment, the space of rumah tuan tanah in Cimanggis, and
ultimately history will be easier to be passed on.
Source
Feilden, Bernard M. (2003). Conservation of Historic Buildings (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA:
Elsevier.
Hueken, Adolf. (1997). Tempat-tempat Bersejarah di Jakarta. Jakarta: Yayasan Cipta Loka
Karya.
Schoppert, Peter. (1997). Java Style. Singapur: Periplus Edition. Rumah tuan tanah Cimanggis.
(2009). Maret 21, 2013.
Tjahjono, Gunawan., & Miksic, John. (2001). Indonesian Heritage: Archietcture. Singapur:
Archipelago Press.