C.A.W. CAVADINO

HISTORY

As early as 1863 (you could say 1861 when he arrived) the Cavadino family was represented in the Asian region by our managing-director's great-grandfather Conrad Alexander Willem Cavadino, born in Doesburg, The Netherlands on September 5th, 1832,

Before starting his business, after his arrival in Batavia on the SS Metalen Kruis (SS Metal Cross) in April 1861, he worked as an innkeeper at the Concordia Military Society located on the Waterlooplein (not the one in Amsterdam but in Batavia; what is now called Lapangan Banteng).

From 1863 he was the treasurer of the official body who was charged with managing the property of the Catholic Church in Batavia and he started as CAW Cavadino - Confiseur & Cuisinier with a restaurant, bakery and shop at the corner of Rijswijk (Jalan Veteran) and Citadelweg (Jalan Veteran I); in the then high-class neighbourhood of Weltevreden in Batavia; now known as Sawah Besar, center of Jakarta, on the Island of Java in Indonesia.

In 1872, 2 years after he returned to The Netherlands, he started trading as Cavadino & Co when the main building turned into Hotel Cavadino while the building in front of the hotel accommodated his retail business Toko Cavadino (toko = shop in Indonesian), which sold everything from sweets, chocolates and cigars from The Netherlands and Manila to wine, beer, liqueurs and everyday household items.

So famous had the Cavadino business become that the bridge in front of the hotel was named after it early on.

The building is still in use as a hotel and recognised to be the oldest hotel in Jakarta, albeit with different owners. In 1899 it was renamed Hotel Lion d'Or, becoming Park Hotel in 1941 and the present Hotel Sriwijaya in 1950. Taxi drivers would still take you to this hotel when you mention Hotel Cavadino (there are 2 hotels in Jakarta called Hotel Sriwijaya) until well into the 21st century.

In 1999 the facade and the teak interior of the main hotel building were remodeled significantly, mainly due to the worsening condition of the wooden facade and interior. The complete remodeling of the building was so thorough that the former 19th-century Indies Empire style was lost.

The bridge is still there and the building formerly housing the toko became the hotel's restaurant and was rented to Starbucks around 2024.