The rectangular building in the center of the city of Yogyakarta, to be precise at the junction of Jalan Abubakar Ali and Jalan Suryotomo, is an electrical substation as a transformer to distribute electricity to places that need it. This building has names; wall substation, electricity substation, Aniem substation, also called babon Aniem, PLN substation. A designation that used to be closely related to electricity. Aniem (Algemeene Nederlandsche Indische Electriciteit Maatschappij) is a Dutch electricity company based in Amsterdam, under NV Handels Vennootschap previously named Maintz& Co which was founded in 1897. The Aniem company was also developed in the Dutch East Indies. At the time of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta under Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII (r. 1877-1921), for progress, he wanted to have an electricity installation network to the palace, because so far until 1919 he used gas for palace lighting. Furthermore, Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII and the Resident of Yogyakarta, Barend Leonardus van Bijlevelt, endeavored to have an electricity installation network from NV Aniem. This company then built an electricity network in Java, including Yogyakarta, starting in 1914, and in 1919 the areas where electricity entered included Njeron Beteng, Malioboro, and Kotabaru. For the city of Yogyakarta, electricity was fulfilled in 1922, and it was only in 1939 that all residency areas were electrified.
Gardu Aniem or babon Aniem on Jalan Abubakar Ali is one of those built on a 137 m2 plot of land to distribute the electricity network to the surrounding areas, including the Malioboro, Kotabaru, Danurejan areas. The shape of the building is rectangular, on all four walls, on the north, east, south and west sides there are horizontal lines that are made prominent so that they are divided into three parts, bottom-middle-top.
North side: The lower part of the wall has two wooden doors, above it, in the middle, there are three windows with wooden frames and glass with trellis and (bovenlicht) above them, while the upper part has seven vents with three windows each one, above the two doors each two pieces.
East side: At the bottom there is an iron window, while at the top there are two vents, which is the same as on the west side.
South side: The lower part of the wall in the middle has a wooden door, above it, in the middle, there are five glass windows (bovenlicht) with trellis, while the top side has seven vents.
After the Dutch East Indies government left and Indonesia became independent, improvements were made here and there. In 1959 the electricity company NV Aniem, as well as other foreign-owned companies were subject to nationalization based on Government Regulation no. 18 of 1959 concerning Determination of Dutch-owned Electricity and or Gas Companies. Now this electricity company belongs to Indonesia which is handled by PT PLN (Persero). After several years the PLN Substation was not functioning, but its presence has important historical value for the life of the people of Yogyakarta, as a general lesson, and now it is a heritage/cultural heritage that needs to be cared for and preserved. As the owner, in 2018 PT PLN plans to renovate the PLN substation without losing the originality of the building. This is very good and supports the existence of Malioboro as a philosophical axis.