Sources who learned about the transaction last year said that the house, an iconic Dutch Indische Woonhuizen (Indies Residences) style house known as “Rumah Cantik” (beautiful house), was sold for about Rp 16 billion (US$1.76 million) to Edhie Baskoro “Ibas” Yudhoyono.

The house’s front fence is now sealed off with corrugated iron panels. Recent photos of the house show that much of its roof is missing, the presence of large holes in some of the walls, and that the once beautiful garden, which was filled with colorful flowers and neatly cropped hedges, was dead.

All that remains are some tiles and the skeleton of the house.

Previously, almost everyone who passed the house, which is located on the corner of Jl. Teuku Cik Di Tiro and Jl. Ki Mangunsarkoro, Central Jakarta, stopped to admire its classic beauty.

“The house was torn down probably seven or eight months ago. I don’t know why the new owner did not continue to re-construct the house,” a nearby resident said.

The house, which has received several awards from the city administration, is protected under a 1993 gubernatorial decree on heritage buildings.

The rules permit the owner to construct new buildings, but they cannot change the original structure.

The house is thought to have been built in 1932.

Because of the beautiful and well-managed appearance, the 350-square-meter building, which sits on a 863-square-meter plot of land, was often rented out as a location for films and sinetron (soap opera), including The Big Village and Dunia Tanpa Koma (World without Comas).

Menteng was started as a housing complex for the haves in 1908 when the estate was purchased by real estate company De Bouwploeg, whose office was at the site currently occupied by the Cut Mutiah mosque.

University of Indonesia archaeologist Candrian Attahiyat said that many old buildings in Menteng had been torn down and replaced with modern houses.

“The area is divided into two: the old Menteng, where we still can see some old-style buildings standing there, and the new Menteng, where the old buildings have undergone some changes,” he said.

Candrian said that old Menteng included Jl. Teuku Umar and Jl. Lembang, and that new Menteng included Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto and Jl. Sam Ratulangi.

“Economic reasons are mostly behind the change. Many of the modern buildings have been turned into shops or offices,” he said.

Candrian also said that some of the owners of the old classic buildings used a special strategy to convert them into modern houses.

“Many of them intentionally leave the house empty for several years so that they have a reason to build with a new designs as the structure has been damaged [through neglect],” he said.

Ever since Rumah Cantik was sold, prices of houses in the surrounding area have soared, local residents said.

“Maybe it had become the benchmark for this area,” he said.

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