Collecting memories of the city through the conservation of heritage building

Abstract

Heritage building has a role for the city and the society that is associated with emotional, cultural, and use values. Those values are parts of collective memory and create the identity of the city. Some heritage buildings are vulnerable to modernization and even when the government conserves those buildings, some important values of the buildings are lost. This paper discusses a colonial building in Jakarta that has been converted into different functions. As a case study is Cut Meutia Mosque in Menteng, designed by a Dutch architect PAJ Moojen during the Dutch late colonial era. The building was initiated in 1922 as N.V. Bouwploeg, an architectural firm that developed the nearby residential area of New Gondangdia. This area was developed according to modern Garden City principles and the Bouwploeg was known as the gate to Menteng area and the architecture of the building was considered very modern and unique at that time – illustrating the importance of the building for the city. After Indonesia’s independence, the government converted the building into different functions such as an office and a mosque. Although the function of the building has changed, the building is still related to triggering a collective memory of the new area that should not be ignored in the effort of conserving the building. Through historical and field research, the paper aims to discuss some changes and lost values of the building as the result of conserving the colonial heritage, especially about collective memory. Hopefully, learning from the conservation of building heritage and city collective memory may support the idea of livable memory of heritage building and even a