Before Thamrin Road The road that would become Thamrin Road first appear around late 1910s-1920s as a small lane running from Koningsplein West (now Medan Merdeka Barat) to Kebon Sirih. This lane was known as Gang Timboel. Prominent landmark near this small lane was a 19th-century Armenian Church for the
Armenian community of Batavia. The church has been demolished. The former location of the Armenian Church is the green within the complex of Bank Indonesia.
1950s Kebayoran Baru The development of the suburb
Kebayoran in 1949 raised the need to link the suburb with the city center of Jakarta, and thus work on a new "highway" began in the same year. The northern half of this new highway received the name Jalan M.H. Thamrin by January 1951, after Indonesian
National Hero Mohammad Husni Thamrin. To avoid the occupation of the newly opened lands by illegal squatters - a major problem at the time - the government sold these lands cheaply to those who committed to build on it within three to six months. Despite this, time extensions had to be granted because buyers could not arrange finance or procure building materials. Among the early projects situated in Thamrin Road were
Sarinah Department Store, Bank Dagang Negara building (now Wisma Mandiri), Ministry of Religion building,
Wisma Nusantara,
Hotel Indonesia and the prominent
Bundaran Hotel Indonesia. Thamrin Road was largely completed by 1953.
1962 Asian Games expansion With the arrival of the
1962 Asian Games, President
Sukarno imagined the VIP visitors for the Asian Games arriving at
Kemayoran Airport, drove along Thamrin Road, be greeted by the
Welcome Monument and stayed at
Hotel Indonesia. For the Games itself, the same VIP visitors would be driven along
Sudirman Road over the
Semanggi cloverleaf bridge into the newly opened
Gelora Bung Karno sports complex where the competitions would take place. For the purpose of the game, both Thamrin and Sudirman Road were widened in the early 1960s. A regulation was also established which requires buildings along Thamrin Road to be minimum five-stories-high. This was difficult to achieve due to lack of funding and commercial building expertise at that time, and the fact that there were already several two-story government buildings along Thamrin Road. In the beginning of 1970s, Thamrin Road was already a major thoroughfare of Jakarta as envisaged by Sukarno. Buildings reached a minimum height of five stories e.g. ICA building (later the United Nations), Hotel Asoka, the Australian Embassy, and the state-owned developer Pembangunan Perumahan. Sudirman Road was still relatively devoid of development during the early 1970s compare with Thamrin Road, with the exception of the
Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex. Several parades were enacted along the major thoroughfare, including Jakarta's anniversary parade and
Independence Day parade.
Jalan MH Thamrin Pedestrian-Way Revitalization Due to its strategic location, close to key landmarks such as Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, Monumen Selamat Datang, and Monumen Nasional, and as the first business district in Jakarta, Jalan MH Thamrin has significant historical value in the city's growth. To address the growth along Jalan MH Thamrin, a study for the redevelopment of Jalan MH Thamrin, including Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, was proposed in 1985. The focus was on improving the quality of pedestrian pathways and enhancing accessibility to public transportation. Well-designed pedestrian pathways aimed to connect
TransJakarta Corridor 1 (Jakarta's first BRT corridor) and prepare for
MRT accessibility, integrating the road with surrounding buildings. The negotiation process lasted 17 years and involved five different master plans due to concerns from landowners, primarily regarding security. Led by Governor Sutiyoso, the study and negotiations were carried out by the Provincial Government of Jakarta, supported by Pusat Studi Urban Desain (PSUD), and Pandega Desain Weharima (PDW). This process encountered setbacks following the
2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, which led to the need for renegotiation of the initial agreements. This initiative became a prototype for managing pedestrian areas through public-private partnerships. Landowners who contributed part of their property for public pathways were given incentives as recognition. The boundaries between private land and pedestrian pathways were marked with gold-colored metal strips.
Transjakarta Up until the 2000s, Thamrin Road consisted of four
carriageways consisting of
local-express lanes, 3 lanes for the express lane and 2 lanes for the local lane. With the introduction of
Transjakarta BRT in 2004, one of the lane of the express lanes was converted into a dedicated lane for the BRT. Eventually, Thamrin Road was made a
dual carriageway by removing the separator of the local and express lanes.
Motorcycle The Jakarta administration in December 2014 introduced a ban on motorcycles from using Jalan Thamrin and the adjoining Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. The ban was lifted by governor
Anies Baswedan in 2018. == Major buildings along the MH Thamrin Road ==