Begeer, van Kempen en Vos Building (Varna Hotel)

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The former shop of Fa. Begeer, van Kempen en Vos stands on Tunjungan Street. Built around 1918 to a design by architect G. Cosman Citroen, it now houses Varna Culture Hotel. Surabaya’s heritage register lists it as Toko Batik/Hotel Varna and notes that some original features remain. The listing links the building to the events of the Battle of Surabaya. Its address is Jalan Tunjungan 51, Genteng.

A 1787 map of Surabaya shows Tunjungan as a road from the Gezaghebber’s residence at Simpang to the government office near Jembatan Merah. Through the nineteenth century, it remained a route through the city. After 1900, trading firms opened offices in Surabaya. As the city grew south, shops, hotels, and restaurants appeared along Tunjungan. Surabaya became a municipality in 1906, and the street’s commercial life continued until the Japanese occupation in 1942. The Begeer, van Kempen en Vos shop was one of the businesses on the street. Fighting reached Tunjungan in October 1945; the city heritage portal includes it in its account of the protected corridor.

After the war, shops reopened, some under new owners. Tunjungan remained a shopping and walking destination through the 1980s. From the 1990s onward, malls drew trade away; the city portal points to limited parking as one reason for the street’s decline. In 2015, the city began efforts to revive Tunjungan, widening sidewalks, improving lighting, and uncovering façades hidden by large signs.

Varna Culture Hotel still operates in the building. Its façade faces Jalan Tunjungan; former shops and other commercial buildings remain nearby.