Economic activities strongly increased in the Dutch East Indies after the abolition of the system of forced farming in 1870. The strong increase in the number of European inhabitants initiated a veritable building boom at the end of the 19th century. The towns, especially those on Java, experienced a period of explosive growth. In order to meet the increasing demand for buildings, more private architects settled in the Dutch East Indies in the first decades of the 20th century. In the first half of the twenties a subject of heated discussion was what modern Dutch East Indian architecture ought to look like. There were two opposed parties, each with its own views on the Eurasian architectural style yet to be developed. The party oriented towards Europe, represented by prof. ir. Charles Prosper Wolff Schoemaker, was looking for an architecture based on modern European architecture, but closely related to the tropical surroundings. The other party aimed at finding a basis in the architectural history of the Indonesian archipelago, improved with the technical achievements of western architecture. The major representative of this 'Vernacular' group was Henri Maclaine Pont. With the establishment and construction of the Dutch East Indian Institute of Technology in Bandoeng in 1918-1920 of architect Maclaine Pont (ill. 3) and also of the building for the Department of Government Companies of architect Gerber (ill. 14) (popularly called Gedung Sateh, after the decoration on the roof) from the same period, the design of Dutch East Indian architecture was called into question. Wolff Schoemaker rejected the design of these buildings because of the use of incorrectly interpreted decoration and the fact that a Sumatran building style had been transferred to Java. The dispute between Wolff Schoemaker and Maclaine Pont came to a head in the pendopo as the most characteristic Javanese Building form (ill. 8). They particularly disagreed on the structural advantages of the pendopo, scornfully called 'the degenerate Javanese, ...