Colonial architecture
Dutch buildings and Chinese shophouses.
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Medan's oldest commercial quarter, which grew in the late nineteenth century when the city became the capital of the Deli tobacco plantations, its main street filling with Dutch colonial buildings and Chinese shophouses, many of which still stand, so that it is today an open-air museum of the city's history. On the street stand the famous Tjong A Fie Mansion, home of Medan's richest Chinese merchant; the Tip Top restaurant, open since the 1930s with its old furniture and ice cream; the white London Sumatra building of 1906, which had the city's first lift; the Warenhuis, Medan's first department store; the old town hall; and the Dutch water tower. Walking the quarter is free; some buildings are tired and await restoration, but the façades tell the city's story. In the evening the cafés and restaurants come alive, and the quarter once had a famous night food market. It is best explored on foot in the morning or late afternoon, starting at the Tjong A Fie Mansion and resting at Tip Top. The quarter is close to Merdeka square and the railway station.
Dutch buildings and Chinese shophouses.
Open since the 1930s.
In the London Sumatra building.
Jalan Ahmad Yani, central Medan
Tjong A Fie MansionA two-storey mansion in Chinese-European style in the old Kesawan quarter of cen2 minutes walk4.5
Gang Bengkok Old MosqueOne of Medan's oldest mosques, in a crooked lane of the old Kesawan quarter, hen2 minutes walk4.7
Medan Old Post OfficeAn elegant colonial post office on Merdeka Square, the heart of the city, built 8 minutes walk3.8
Tirtanadi Water TowerA towering iron water tower the Dutch built in 1908 to supply drinking water to 10 minutes walk4.7
Maimun PalaceThe palace of the Deli sultans and Medan's leading historic landmark, built by S17 minutes walk4.3Because Deli tobacco grown around it became one of the world's most prized tobaccos in the late nineteenth century, drawing European companies and Chinese traders who built this commercial quarter.