List of colonial buildings in Medan

A variety of infrastructure were constructed in the city of Medan during the colonial period of Dutch East Indies, which is now Indonesia.

Subsequent rapid development ushered in a western-centric architectural style used in a number of colonial buildings built in Medan.

[3] Despite its relatively late modernization compared to older cities like Jakarta and Makassar, Medan has an abundant colonial architectural heritage.

The colonial settlement is the city centre and contains central government infrastructure, the shopping area of Kesawan, the military area between the Deli and the Babura Rivers, the affluent tropical garden city of Polonia, the central market, as well as various churches, hospitals, schools, factories, train stations, and the former airport.

Here, the Dutch redesigned the main buildings in an Orientalistic-Imperialist style, symbolising the dominance of the colony's cultural and political control.

[5]Medan's architecture, was closely linked to Penang Island's, as wealthy residents and the colonial government hired British and Dutch architects from the Straits Settlements.

These included towers, a rounded or oblique construction, or a set-back, giving each building a unique look resulting in different urban nodes.

[3] Some of the first colonial buildings of Medan were concentrated around the "Esplanade" (now the Lapangan Merdeka), the station area, and around the Sultan's palace.

Many of the first buildings were simple wooden structures, such as the hoofdkantoor van de Deli Maatschappij te Medan (The head office of the Deli Company in Medan), which during the time of its opening in 1870 was also used for a church, an administration building, a hospital and a feast hall,[6] and the large wooden Old Sultan's Palace.

Unlike earlier low-quality architecture, the new traditionalist movement made use of modern materials, for example reinforced concrete and steel frames behind its classical facade.

In the following period between the late 1930s and 1940s, Art Deco evolved into a new style known as Nieuwe Bouwen (the Dutch term for Modernism) or Functionalism.