british raj- architecture as an imposing tool- mayank shekhawat.docx

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

British raj- Architecture as an imposing tool

Term Paper for History of Architecture (AP131)

Mayank Shekhawat

Roll Number: 02616901611

Sushant School of Art and Architecture

ABSTRACT

The colonial architecture spanning about 150 to 200 years, representing an

important phase in the modernization of the country, modification of a stark

medieval life style got to ultimately become a democratic one at the dawn of

Independence in 1947. The modern Indian life style, the physical environments

and the very urbanity experienced today cannot be understood without

recognizing the happenings of this historical period.

Historians regard the year 1757 as the starting point of the British Empire in

India, even though large parts of the country remained under the rule of Indian

princes. It took nearly another hundred years for the East India Company and the

British government to extend British rule to northern and western India. Britain

reigned India for over three hundred years and their legacy still remains through

building and infrastructure that populate their former colonies.

The major cities colonized during this period were Madras, Calcutta, Bombay,

Delhi, Agra, Bankipore, Karachi, Nagpur, Bhopal and Hyderabad.

This paper attempts to appreciate and comprehend in brief the British

architecture in the three major cities of India, namely, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta

and understand how it reached its conclusion in New Delhi along with a

comparison between the earlier and the latter and also realize the emergence of

a new urbanity, modernizing forces, urban inserts and a new sense of urban

design, overlaying of the new on the old, extension of cities and the cities of

colonial origin: Bombay, Calcutta, Madras- expression of culmination – New Delhi,

the imperial city- impact of modernist urban design ideology.

of 11


Building Methods, initial role of military engineers, followed by the setting up

of Public Works Department (1862)-introduction of new building practices

affecting rural as well as urban scales, -superimposition, modification and

replacement of existing building practices, introduction of new materials and

building techniques, their impact on architectural form.

Architectural Styles, politico-cultural meaning through built environment-

purposeful stylistic changes in architecture, from neoclassical to Indo-Saracenic-

important architects and their contribution.

of 11


PAPER

Introduction

Indo-Saracenic architecture represents a synthesis of Islamic designs and Indian

materials developed by British architects in India during the late nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries. The hybrid combined diverse architectural elements of

Hindu and Mughal with cusped arches, domes, spires, tracery, minarets and

stained glass, in a wonderful, almost playful manner. Chepauk Palace (C.1768) in

Chennai designed by Paul Benfield is said to be the first indo-saracenic building

in India, referred to as licentious ‘eclectic” incorporating elements and motifs of

Hindu and Islamic precedents. The other outstanding examples are spread

across the country - Muir college at Allahabad, Napier Museum at

Thiruvananthapuram, the Post Office, Prince of Wales Museum, University Hall

and Library, Gateway of India in Mumbai, M.S. University, Lakshmi Vilas Palace at

Baroda, the General Post Office, Law Courts, Museum and University Senate

House in Chennai, the Palaces at Mysore and Bangalore.

The paper is divided into two parts-

1. Indo saracenic architecture in madras, Calcutta and Bombay.

2. The final hybrid, New Delhi.

PART 1

Architecture in madras

Architectural developments in Chennai, formerly madras, during British rule in

India comprised a massive overhaul in every Christian architectural creation that

of 11


was present in the city. Churches were primarily taken into account, giving them

a clean English look, deriving inspiration from their London counterpart. Even

bungalows were built in certain areas to suit their high-flying style. Massive

banquet halls came into being for official evening functions, every nook emoting

out a classical feel.

The colonial legacy of Chennai is most apparent in the vicinity of the port. South

of the port is Fort St George. A little south of the fort, across the Cooum River, is

the Chepauk cricket stadium, another British staple, dating from 1916. North and

west of the port is George Town, where dockyard workers and other manual

labourers used to live. Most of the colonial-style buildings are concentrated in the

area around the port and Fort St George. The remaining parts of the city consist

of primarily modern architecture in concrete, glass and steel.

The Chepauk Palace, designed by Paul Benfield, is said to be the first Indo-

Saracenic building in India. However, most of the Indo-Saracenic structures in the

city were designed by English architects Robert Fellowes Chisholm and Henry

Irwin and can be seen across the city, especially in areas such

as Esplanade, Chepauk, Anna Salai, Egmore, Guindy, Aminjikarai and Park Town.

Prominent structures in the Esplanade region include the Madras High

Court (built in 1892), the General Post Office, State Bank of India building,

Metropolitan Magistrate Courts, YMCA building, and the Law College. Chepauk

area is equally dense with these structures with Senate House and library of

the University of Madras, Chepauk Palace, PWD Buildings, Oriental Research

Institute and the Victoria Hostel. Southern Railway headquarters, Ripon Building,

the Victoria Public Hall, and the Madras Medical College's anatomy block are

examples of Indo-Saracenic-style structures found in Park Town. Structures such

as Bharat Insurance Building, Agurchand Mansion and the Poombhuhar

Showroom are found along the Anna Salai, and Amir Mahal is in Triplicane.

Structures found in Guindy include College of Engineering and Old Mowbrays

Boat Club. Egmore is dotted with several such structures including

the Government Museum, Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Veterinary College,

State Archives building, National Art Gallery, and College of Arts and Crafts. St.

George's School Chapel and the Southern Railway Offices in Aminjikarai are other

examples of the Indo-Saracenic structures in the city.

of 11


Figure 1: Chepauk palaceRef: http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2019%20No%2024/images/Chepauk%20Palace%20colour.jpg

Figure 2: Senate houseRef: http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2003/06/13/images/2003061301751701.jpg

Architecture in Calcutta

Calcutta during the prolonged British rule of 200 yrs, was a pivotal place, from

where had emerged several legendary freedom-fighters and freedom

movements. As such, the city was an area which the British could not afford to

leave unguarded. Due to British concentration of both civil and military life,

Calcutta during the pre-independence centuries very much mirrored England in

several aspects. Architecture was one such primary sphere. Accordingly

architectural developments of Calcutta under British rule were simply

overpowering, with stellar presence of gothic churches, mansions, boulevards

and governmental office buildings. Great pain and eye was instilled into making

Calcutta an architectural masterpiece.

In 1801, lord Wellesley (1760-1842), governor-general of India, acquired seventy

acres and two bungalows in Barrachpore, west Bengal. Here, he planned a

palatial country house, fifteen miles from Calcutta. The British East India

Company nipped his plans in the bud by recalling him. Some of the plans went

forward, however, resulting in the construction of a main floor for the principal

house and several separate structures for guests. The surrounding landscape

of 11


adjacent to the Hooghly River proved particularly beautiful and much beloved.

Later, the tragic death and burial of lady charlotte canning (1817-1861) in

Barrackpore brought to closure the joy felt for Barrachpore.

Architectural developments of Calcutta under British rulers were given a regal

look, when in January 1803 lord Wellesley opened the new government house

with a great ball commemorating the peace of Amiens. The structure consisted

of a central block of three floors and four wings. It possessed considerably

resemblance to kedleston hall in Derbyshire. As adapted by lieutenant Charles

wyatt(1758-1819), superintendent of public works of the Bengal engineers, it

took him six years to complete at a cost of 167,359 pounds. The renovated

government house possessed an ionic façade. Grey marble from Italy was

imported for the floors and teak wood from Burma for interior finishing. Only

after 1870 did lord mayo (1822-1872) take an interest in landscaping the six-

acre site surrounding government house. Displaying a vigorous interest, he filled

it with trees, flowerbeds and ornamental scrubs. Later still lord Curzon (1859-

1925) added electricity, modernised the plumbing and installed electric lifts and

fans.

In1813, placed on Calcutta’s esplanade, a new town hall was constructed and

placed in service. Colonel John grastin (1756-1820). Chief engineer of Bengal

designed a purely Palladian structure with no local features to moderate the

severities of Bengal’s climate. In 1818, esplanade underwent some significant

overhaul.

Within the period of 1815 to 1818, architectural developments of Calcutta under

britishers saw a sweeping escalation, overwhelming as they were in their work.

The Presbyterian congregation of Calcutta constructed St. Andrews church within

this time. It possessed much resemblance with St. Martins-in-the-fields, London.

The structure proved to have a more coherent expression of classical details

than Calcutta’s St. John’s church.

In the years of 1831 to 1837, the company build a new mint in Calcutta for the

storage of specie and the minting of new coins. It took the appearance of a

classic Greek temple. The years of 1839 to 1847, witnessed Calcutta’s

architectural developments create history, when St. Pauls cathedral represented

the first cathedral built in Britain’s overseas empire. Major-general William

of 11


Forbes (1796-1855) of the Bengal engineers provided its mixed classical and

gothic design. Later the cathedral added some stained glass, executed by

Edward Burne- Jones in memory of lord mayo (1822-1872), viceroy of India, who

was assassinated in the Andaman islands and a statue by Francis Chantrey of

bishop Heber (1783-1826), the second bishop of Calcutta.

Figure 3: Victoria Memorial

Ref: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Victoria_memorial_kolkata.jpg

Figure: St. Andrews churchRef: http://standrewschurch-kolkata.org/image001.jpg

Architecture in Bombay

The energetic Governor, Sir Bartle Frere - of which Scott’s buildings were so

significant a product, launched a public building campaign in Bombay in the

second half of the 1860s. The campaign opened with the Decorated Gothic

scheme for the rebuilding of St Thomas's Cathedral by the Government

Architect, James Trubshawe. This was only partially realized, but Trubshawe

made a weighty contribution, in collaboration with W. Paris, in the General Post

and Telegraph Office of 1872.

Of other landmarks produced by the campaign, William Emerson's Crawford

Markets - in an elementary northern Gothic delineated in the various coloured

of 11


stones, which contributed so much to the success of the Gothic Revival in

Bombay - reflected the ideals of the early design reformers at home more nearly

than any other prominent Anglo-Indian building of the period.

For the Public Works Secretariat, Colonel Henry St Clair Wilkins, Royal Engineers,

followed Scott's lead with a Venetian Gothic design in 1877 and his colleague

Colonel John Fuller mixed Venetian and early English for the stupendous High

Court of 1879. The culminating masterpieces of the series, increasingly hybrid in

style, are Frederick Stevens' works, especially Victoria 51 Terminus (1878-87),

the headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway.

Stevens was also responsible for the municipal buildings built in 1893 opposite

Victoria Terminus and for the slightly later Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian

Railway terminus at Churchgate. In these works, he took a still more significant

step towards the synthesis of Indian and European forms with the incorporation

of cusped arches and Deccani Muslim domes.

Following the example, George Wittet achieved a thoroughgoing Anglo-Indian

synthesis for the Prince of Wales Museum in 1905 and the Gateway of India

some twenty-two years later. The Museum, Classical in plan and purpose, prefers

a full-blooded Adil Shahi revival, with its central pavilion modelled on the Gol

Gumbad at Bijapur. The Gateway is Neo-Ahmad Shah, but recalls the Roman

form of triumphal arch as much as Ahmadabad's Tin Darwaza, and substitutes a

Bijapuri central space for the trabeated one provided by the Gujarati builders.

Architectural developments of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, during british rule in

india were significant, standing tall in their regal and neo-classical look.

Churches, town halls and several other structures, bearing semblance with

England counterparts paved a fresh way for Mumbai. Mumbai completely

metamorphosed into a polished city, much to intimidate Kolkata.

of 11


Figure 4: Gateway of IndiaRef: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6051/6363795463_3b21f1d826_o.jpg

Figure 5: Prince of Wales MuseumRef: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/952029.jpg

PART 2

The British response to the uprising of 1857 was to destroy much of the city

Shah Jahan had built and to rename the Mughal monuments that remained after

British monarchs. Overnight, Roshanara Bagh, the Mughal garden built by one of

Shah Jahan’s daughters, became the Victoria Gardens. Half a century later, once

the Mughal dynasty had ceased to be a threat to them, and when it had become

clear that Calcutta was too chaotic to continue as the capital, the British made

plans to move their headquarters back to the traditional seat of government in

India.

On December 15, 1911, King George V and Queen Mary laid the foundation stone

for New Delhi, and did so, ironically, at a darbar modeled on that of the Mughals,

under a purposely built Shah Jahani dome. The message was clear: the British

were the legitimate successors of the Mughals and their new capital was

intended to express the power of the Raj, just as Shah Jahan’s capital had

expressed the authority of the Mughals.

The construction of the new city was an epic project involving no less than

29,000 labourers. Yet one man masterminded every aspect of the construction,

from the shape of the doorknobs in the Viceroy’s palace, to the types of flowers

of 11


suitable for planting in the roundabouts. Edwin Lutyens was a self-taught,

working-class genius of ethnic Dutch origins. After winning the commission to

construct the new capital, Lutyens was presented with the biggest architectural

opportunity offered to any British architect since his hero, Sir Christopher Wren,

set about rebuilding London after the Great Fire.

Lutyen’s Delhi was the last great construction project to be completed by the

British in India. It is one of the supreme achievements of British architecture in

any period of history, and still ranks as one of the most elegant urban landscapes

anywhere in the world.

He planned New Delhi along a rectangular mall surrounded by offices and

crowned by the viceroy’s house at one end and the war memorial at the other.

The plan is purely geometrical. Tree lined streets radiate from the central vista

and converge into hexagonal nodes.

The secretariat buildings were designed by Herbert Baker. New Delhi soon

became the symbol of British imperial power and dominance; monumental,

grand, larger than life city space. Connaught place designed by sir Robert Russel

becomes the central business district.

Figure 5: Plan of Lutyen’s DelhiRef: http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/419/flashcards/1260419/png/new_delhi1336516061353.png

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Kaul, Chandrika. "From Empire to Independence: The British Raj in India 1858–

1947". Retrieved 3 March 2011

of 11


2. Gast, Klaus-Peter (2007), Modern Traditions: Contemporary Architecture in India,

Birkhäuser, ISBN 978-3-7643-7754-0

3. David Arnold, "The Armed Police and Colonial Rule in South India, 1914–

1947," Modern Asian Studies, (Jan 1977) 11#1 pp. 101–125; Arnold, Police Power

and Colonial Rule: Madras, 1859–1947 (1986)

4. Rajat Kanta Ray, "Indian Society and the Establishment of British Supremacy,

1765–1818," in The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, "The Eighteenth

Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998).

of 11

british raj- architecture as an imposing tool- mayank shekhawat.docx

Documents