THE stilted house with a broad yard is gone. The elegant complex with tall trees characterizing the former settlement on Jalan Mantri, Aur subdistrict, Medan Maimun, Medan, is no longer there. What remains is only a row of closely built homes without yards.

In the past, the Mantri neighborhood was known as an elite settlement. Dutch officials, indigenous citizens of royal descent, aristocrats and bureaucrats lived in houses along the street. The