Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel
The Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel is a historic luxury four stars hotel located on Asia Afrika Street, Bandung, Indonesia. It was built in 1939 replacing the 19th century Homann Hotel. Designed by the Dutch architect Albert Aalbers, the hotel features art deco exterior and interior, and historic furniture. It is an architectural heritage and a fine example of art deco colonial architecture of the East Indies.
History
After the opening of the Great Post Road in 1810, many colonial cash-crop plantations were established in the Preanger area. During the 19th to early 20th century Bandung has become a popular business, shopping and leisure destination for wealthy plantation owners, in particular in the weekends. As a result, the hotel business was blooming in the city. The predecessor of the present hotel, the Homann Hotel was built in 1871–72, owned and managed by the Homann family. It was famous for its delicious Mrs. Homann's Rijsttafel. This first small building was designed in Gothic-Romantic style. In 1939, the hotel was rebuilt in a curved streamlined art deco style, designed by the architect Albert Aalbers. To emphasize its grandeur and luxury the name "Savoy" was added in the 1940s, which remained unchanged until the 1980s. Some of its celebrity guests during the Dutch East Indies era were Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.
During the World War II Japanese occupation (1942–45), the hotel functioned as luxurious barracks for Japanese soldiers. In 1955, when the first Asian–African Conference was held in Bandung, Savoy Homann hosted VVIP guests and became a part of the Historical Walk. Some of the guests were Soekarno, Ho Chi Minh, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, U Nu, Zhou Enlai, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Tito.
In the 1990s the hotel was renovated and a new wing was added. Today the hotel was bought under the management of Bidakara Group, thus the name changed to Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel.
The building
The hotel has three wings: the Tower Wing, Garden Wing and Millennium Wing. It has a total of 185 guest rooms: 126 Deluxe Rooms, 41 Executive Rooms, 15 Junior Suite Rooms and 3 Homann Suites. Some with balcony, many with original stained glass and other art deco features. One room that has its own fireplace, antique furnitures are being used throughout the years. The Grand Ballroom is a spacious functional room with a capacity of 1,000 guests. There are 14 different dimensions of rooms to accommodate different size of meeting or gathering.
The Garden Restaurant with 150 seating capacity provides Indonesian and European cuisine as well as Asian favorites. The restaurant is located in the atrium in the middle of the hotel, originally it was designed as an open air garden restaurant. Batavia Bar & Lounge has a lounge located in the front of the hotel with the view of Bandung's main street. The Sidewalk Cafe is located on the ground floor at the curved part of the building.
The hotel has a swimming pool, a small children swimming pool, fitness centre and Spa, and a children's Games Room.
In popular culture
- The story in the book Bandoeng-Bandung by the author F. Springer published in 1994, mostly took place in this hotel.
Literature
- William Warren, Jill Gocher (2007). Asia's legendary hotels: the romance of travel. Singapore: Periplus Editions. ISBN 978-0-7946-0174-4.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hotel Savoy Homann. |
- Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel Homepage