44

CHAPTER 2

INDIAN AND EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

Every age conceived the architecture according to its needs. At

every stage it responded to the prevailing attitudes. Whatever they were,

as each age presented architecture that was the characteristic of its people,

their faiths and ideals, their stage of civilization projecting their beliefs

and at the same time accommodating various external influences, the

stupas, temples, palaces, forts, mosques, minars and the mausoleums

which were built in great numbers in different epochs of ancient and

medieval history of India served the purpose of those times. Yet period of

emperors like Shahjahan and Akbar etc. witnessed magnificence in art

and architecture made contributions to Indian architecture.

The advent of the British and the French and eventually the

supremacy of the British over the French led to the establishment of many

cantonment cities and barrack architecture by the British to enable them

to keep a control over princely states. Unlike its predecessors, the British

architecture was need oriented. It was no longer ornamental and its place

was taken by simplicity but in shear size and height it inspired awe.'

1. P.N. Chopra, and P. Chopra, Monuments of the Raj: British Buildings in India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, New Delhi, 1999, p. ix.
 45

Thus, the political stability of the British period encouraged a building

boom.^

After the glorious Mughal Architecture, India saw the development

of the Indo-European Architectural heritage, which was the

amalgamation of the styles of the European countries, like Portugal

(Portuguese), Holland (Dutch), France (French) and finally culminating

in the colonial occupation by the British. The European constructed, forts,

churches, town hall, clock towers, market complexes, and gateway etc.

The Architecture of the Imperial Portuguese marked by Churches and

Cathedral reflecting the post-Renaissance European architecture. There

are examples of old mansions, remains of fortifications and defences,

dating mainly from IS'*' century A.D. The Portuguese architecture was

very much influenced by contemporary developments in Europe at that

time. The Churches of Goa are also the fiision of Renaissance Principles

and aesthetics to suit local colonial tastes, monetary resources and raw

materials.^

The buildings built by the British were not as elegant and grand as

that of the Mughals, but were civic and utilitarian buildings and

commemorative structures. Indo-European Architecture in India during

2. Tillotson Sarah, Indian Mansions: A Social History of the Haveli, New Delhi,
1998, p. 9.
3. http//www.heritageinindia.com/architectural-heritage/indo-european.
 46

British period closely followed the developments in their home country

but also sought inspiration from existing architecture in India for great

legitimacy.''

Though, the evolution and development of British Indo-European

Architecture in India can be studied from the cities of Calcutta (now

Kolkata), Madras (now Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai) and New Delhi etc.

The contributions made by the British led to the creation of a composite

architectural style imbibing European, Indian and Mughal elements and

was also called the colonial architecture. One of the most significant

legacies of British rule in India is the colonial Architecture from the two

centuries anteceding the struggle for independence. These imposing

buildings including Palaces, mansions, clubhouses, and government

official buildings, represented a hybrid of western and eastern

sensibilities as their architect sought to plant the flag of British

dominance in a foreign culture.^

If we see the new princely cities like Jaipur, Bikaner and Mysore,

they are also influenced by Indo-European architecture. The towns were

4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
 47

patterned along British example has Clock towers, railway stations,

public official buildings, assembly halls and public hospitals etc.

In colonial India a number of new, so-called colonial Metropolitan

cities were established. Western technology and new ideas were applied

to these new cities or towns with the spread of British political power and

technological development, westernized concept of modernization

evolved.

In 1833 Calcutta became the capital of British India, remaining so

until 1912, when New Delhi was made the capital because of its more

central location.^ Former capital of India and present capital of the state

of West Bengal. It is the largest city and leading port in India, located in

the southern part of the state, in eastern India at 22°34'N latitude and

88°24'E long. The city is on the Hooghly River. One of the major

tributaries of the Ganges, about 80 miles North of Bay of Bengal,

o

Calcutta is built on a low, flat, swampy delta, a few feet above sea level.

The English merchant Job Chamock founded Calcutta on

insalubrious mud flats beside the river Hooghly in 1690.^ Calcutta has a

place of its own in the history of India. The political capital of India for

6. Ibid.
7. William T. Couch (ed.), Coolier's Encyclopaedia, Vol. 4, New York, 1956, p.
320.
8. Ibid. p. 319.
9. Philip Davies, The Monuments of India, Islamic, Rajput, European, vol. 2,
London, 1989, p. 286.
 48

more than one century and the seat of the Bengal renaissance, Calcutta

had a grandeur and character which gave it the status for a time, of being

the second city of the British Empire after London. The buildings and

precincts of the era were not only notable for their thoughts, institutions

and events but also for their architectural heritage. In its heyday it was

called the city of palaces, and it still retains a fine heritage of 18 and 19

century buildings, often in a bad state of repair.

Some important historical buildings as the Town Hall, the Mint,

and the Writers Building set the mood for the imperial capital city.

Belvedere House (the present National Library) was also constructed in

1912. The monument, Victoria Memorial was planned as a symbol of

British imperial power during the 1900s. Its foundation stone was laid in

1906, and it was finally completed in 1921.'°

In Calcutta, many fine Palladian style houses, with their columned

verandahs, flat balustrade roofs and large gardens are founded. Bungalow

housing design had also a number of specific elements, such as the

verandahs, the chajja, compound and one-storied houses, all of which

evolved in the Bengal climate. The bungalow design became a model for

British colonial housing not only in India, but other British colonial

10. Lizuka Kiyo, 'Town Planning in Modern India', rep., E.A.C.S., Vol. XXIX,
Nos. 1-4, March 1990, p. 25.
 49

countries as well. Such architectural design columned verandahs, flat

balustrade roofs and large gardens etc.

When the British left India besides the legacy of language, social

customs, the modes of administrative functioning and more enduringly,

their buildings scattered across twenty-four latitudes and widely varied

terrain. A lot of construction in British India was the work of amateurs

and military engineers their work reflects a curious adaptation of local

materials and weather to a longing for home being expressed in the

implantation of European styles in tropical lands. It is the city of Bombay,

which shows the greatest incorporation of a multitude of divergent styles

popular in the Victorian era.

Perhaps the most fitting monuments both in name and splendor, the

very symbol of the British in Victorian Bombay is a building that was

opened in 1887, in time to celebrate Queen Victoria Terminus (VT).

Today it is better known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. It is the finest

Victorian Gothic building in India and a mixture of polychromatic stone,

decorative ironwork, marble and tile.

In another building, Indo-Sarcenic styles are also shown on

Gateway of India. It is a symbolic national landmark, the Marble Arch of

 50

India, was designed by George Wittet to commemorate tiie visit of

George V and Queen Mary in 1911, en route to the Delhi Durbar."

Architecturally it is Indo-Sarcenic in style, modeled on 16 century

Gujarati work and constructed in honey-coloured basalt, with side

chambers and halls to accommodate civic receptions.

Here, in Bombay, a great phalanx facing the Maidan lie the

Secretariat, University Library and Convocation Hall, the law courts,

public works office and telegraph office - a truly imperial vision,

monolithic, awe inspiring and supremely self-confident.

After the Revolt of 1857, Calcutta became the important

metropolitan city, while Madras became less important. When Sir Bartle

Frere becomes the Governor (Bombay) under his enlightened and

energetic direction the city was transformed into the Gateway of India.

The old town walls are swept away. A new city began to take shape in the

latest fashionable Gothic style. Frere was determined to give the city a

series of public buildings worthy of its wealth, power and potential. He

stipulated that the designs should be of the highest architectural calibre,

with conscious thought given to aesthetic impact.'^

11. P.N. Chopra and P. Chopra, op.cit., p. 106.

12. Philip Davies, op.cit., p. 86.
 51

The great neo-classical town hall, built by Colonel Thomas D.

Cowper between 1820 and 1835 was of course already there, together

with the venerable St. Thomas's Cathedral. Frere nurtured this image of

imperial power. As a result Britains finest heritage of High Victorian

Gothic buildings now lies in Bombay.'^

Today, owing to land reclamation, they no longer face out across

the sea, but they coalesce to form a splendid romantic skyline. Although

St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, was the first major Church in India to

break the mould of Gibbs derivatives, it was designed in a whimsical

English perpendicular Gothic style. The first Church in India to be

designed in accordance with the new principles of 'correct' Gothic

architecture, laid down by Pugin and the Ecclesiological Society, was the

Afghan Memorial Church of St. John the Evangelist at Colaba in

Bombay, Commenced in 1847. Its tall spire was a local landmark and its

revolutionary principles infected the city with an enthusiasm for Gothic

architecture, which continued for over fifty years.'''

The architectural prototypes for the great public buildings of

Bombay were the Victorian Gothic buildings then in the course of

construction in London. The designs were already available to the local

military engineers of the public works department in the pages of

13. Ibid. p. 86.

14. Ibid. p. 86.
 52

professional journals like the Builder, George Gilbert Scott who designed

the university buildings in the city from his office in London, provided a

clear source of inspiration for many. His competitive design for the

foreign office with its central tower, symmetrical fa9ade and Venetian

inspiration, was highly influential. His design for the Rathus in Hamburg,

modeled on the great medieval cloth Hall at Y pres, provided a direct

source for the law courts at Calcutta, the most important Gothic building

in city of classical palaces.

Madras was the first important settlement of the East India

Company (E.I.C.). It was founded in 1639 from the nearby factory at

Armagaum by Francis Day on territory ceded by the Raja of Chandragiri.

In 1644 a small fort was erected from which the city grew steadily and

until the emergence of Calcutta, it remained the nerve-centre of English

influence in the East.'^ Madras, nowadays the capital of Madras state, is

the third largest city of India. The chief seaport on the eastern coast of

India, it is located at the mouth of the Coum River, on the southeastern,

or, coromandel coast at 13°4'N latitude and 80°17'E longitude, about 835

miles southwest of Calcutta. It covers an area of about 49 sq miles,

extending nearby 10 miles along the open coast and 5 miles inland. Built

on a sandy plain, with few sections rising more than 20 ft above sea level,

15. Ibid. p. 542.

the city is exposed to the heavy surf along the shore and has no natural

harbour, though a modern artificial harbour, protected by breakwaters,

was completed in 1909. The city is bisected by Coum River, to the north

of which facing the harbour, lies the thickly populated business centre of

the city, formerly known as black town and re-named George Town in

1906 after the visit of the Prince of Wales. To the west of Cochrane

Canal, the western boundary of George Town, lie people's park and a

spreading residential and suburban area. Immediately south of the Coum

River is another crowded quarter, which merges farther south with the

ancient Portuguese settlement of St. Thome, founded in 1504.'^

The fashionable residential quarter is situated south and inland at

Adyar and Teynampet. Fort St. George, the University building, and the

Marina Promenode are along the shore facing the Bay of Bengal. Other

buildings of interests in Madras are Chepauk Palace, once the property of

the Nawabs of the Camatic, the Government museum. High Court

buildings, the Cathedral of St. Thome, said to stand over the earthly

remains of St. Thomas, martyred in A.D. 68, St. Marys Church, the first

English Church in India and St. George's Cathedral, dating from 1815.

Fort St. George, situated on the sea front north of island, was built in

1640 and contains a Church, barracks, arsenal, and government offices.

16. William T. Couch (ed.), op.cit., p. 669.

 54

The principal educational institutions are Madras University, founded in

1857, the Presidency College, Medical, Engineering, Law and Vetemity

Colleges and a number of missionary institutions.'^

The first British settlements were trading posts established at

Nizam patam (Pedalapali) and Masulipatam in 1611. After the founding

of Fort St. George in 1640s, the British extended their rule, creating

Madras presidency in 1653. The French made several attempts during the

eighteenth century to extend the area of their Indian holdings, but by

1801. British territory included the entire area except the small French

settlements of Make, Karikal, and Pondicherry. In 1937, Madras was

made an autonomous province. It joined the Indian Dominion in 1947 and

by the 1950, Constitution it became Madras state in Indian Republic.'^

The European settlement remained inside the fort, with Black town

outside the walls, although with greater security. In the 18'** century

Europeans bought estates-outside the walls and built beautiful garden

houses, many of which still survive.'^

17. Ibid. pp. 669-670.

18. Ibid. p. 670.
19. Philip Davies, op.cit., pp. 542-543.
 55

Madras has a fine legacy of colonial architecturje, faj^gir;^ trom the

elegant classical houses of the 18"^ century nabobs W th^ spectacuj^^

Indo-Sarcenic buildings of the late 19"^ century."'^

Examples of Indo-Sarcenic building in Madras like the Madras

Law courts, built between 1888 and 1892 were one of the high points of

Indo-Sarcenic architecture in India - a Romantic confection of multi-

coloured Mughal domes, Buddhist shapes, canopied balconies and

arcaded verandahs crowned by a bulbous domed minaret which forms a

light house.

The Madras clubhouse, a famous club in the city has also the

colonial legacy of Madras is apparent in the vicinity of the Madras port.

The Presidency College was built in 1840, the Royapuram station dates

from 1856, the central stadium dates from 1873, and the south railway

headquarters was built in 1922. Many of the colonial era buildings are

designed in the Indo-Sarcenic style. The Madras high court (the largest

judicial building in the world after the courts of London), the government

museum, the senate house of the Madras University and the college of

Engineering, are some of the examples of Indo-Sarcenic style of

architecture.

20. Ibid. pp. 543-544.

 56

Other buildings of architectural significance are the Ripon Building

housing the Chennai (Madras) corporation, the war Memorial, the

Presidency College, etc. Most of the colonial style buildings are

concentrated in the area around the Chennai port and Fort St. George, the

remaining parts of the city consists of primarily modem architecture in

concrete, glass and steel.^'

However, the 18'*^ century is bereft of impressive buildings by the

British architecture. The British contribution to architecture, commenced

only after the Revolt of 1857 in India. It was mostly limited to country

houses, bungalows and churches etc., which are even now spread all over

the country presenting mixture of a typical style evolved by British

militancy engineers and architects and Greeko-Roman and Scottish-

baronil styles. Some of them however, deserve to be commended for their

beautifiil designs^^ and its architectural features.

Infact, when the British established their settlements at various

places like, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras etc. they had to build European

style houses for the convenience of their officers and staffs. As the

numbers of residents increased, they began the construction of more

durable structures such as strong fortresses and imposing churches. The

21. http//www.boloji.com
22. P.N. Chopra and P. Chopra, op.cit., p. ix.
 57

church in their initial stages resembled the English village churches the

English officers also built private houses, which were quite distinctive.

While, it was only after the rise of the British Empire that they're

developed a type of Victorian architecture. The Victorian style however

was imitative rather than original. The chief characteristic of the

Victorian style building was its brickwork supported by iron angles and

domed roofs. Thus, English style of the 19'*^ century buildings in India did

not compare itself favourably with the grandeur and magnificence of the

past architecture.'^'* We can see the prominent Victorian style buildings

e.g., the churches at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras etc.

It was in the last decade of the 19'*^ century that Bombay witnessed

a phase of experimentation in architecture. Considering the eastern

location of India, the British architects were attempting to incorporate

Indian ideals with European architecture. This synthesis of forms such as

the horse shoe-shaped arches from Moorish Spain, Islamic domes and

Victorian towers came to be known as the Indo-Sarcenic style of

architecture.

In Delhi, the buildings of English style or imperial style started

early when some English officials, traders, English mercenaries and

23. Ibid. p. ix.

24. Ibid. p. X.
 58

Christian converts started taking up residence in the city and build their

own houses. Before the mutiny of 1857, many of these buildings came up

near the ridge and between Kashmiri Gate and Daiyaganj. The prominent

buildings were, Residency, Flag staff tower, St. James Church, Fraser

House, later known as Hindu Rao Bara, Metcalf House and other

individual houses built by the English and foreigners other than English

people. The cantonment also existed near the Ridge where English

maintained forces for enforcing law and order and collection of revenue

on behalf of Mughal Emperor in Delhi.

While Metcalf House building in Delhi by Sir Thomas Metcalf,

Resident in Mughal Court in Delhi showed Indian influences, which

feature artificial European style such as Gothic, adapted to Indian

condition. Metcalf built extensively in Delhi particularly around the dome

at Mehrauli. These buildings were constructed with local stone or stone

carved out of Qutub area (old Delhi). It shows mixture of European and

Indian styles. The main room is surrounded by verandahs as protection

from the summer sun. In the servant quarters the familiar courtyard was

provided with surrounded rooms.'^^

25. A.P. Bhatnagar, Delhi and its fort Palace: A Historical Review, Delhi, 2003,
p.61.
26. P.N. Chopra and P. Chopra, op.cit., p. x.
 59

Another example of the house built by Metcalf in about 1835 also

shows Indian influence. The British houses in the Suburbs of Delhi are

large bungalows with spacious compounds. Gothic style is quite apparent

which has been very well adapted to Indian conditions. To protect from

the scorching summer heat, rooms were surrounded by verandahs. In

Bombay too, houses were coming up at the same time. Keeping in view

the climate, they had long and low verandahs and thatched roofs, whereas

in Calcutta "mansions were erected in imitation of the houses of the rich

in England with a classical fa9ade, small useless balconies, quite large

windows, which had to be shuttered against the Sun." Gothic was the

style adopted for ecclesiastical buildings with certain notable exceptions

such as St. James Church and Kashmiri Gate built by Col. Skinner in the

classical style in Delhi which is situated in civil lines.

As Calcutta and Madras no longer remained merely trading centers

and the British Empire was expanding and efforts were made to build

massive buildings befitting imperial cities. The civilizing influence of

Greece and Roman is very much apparent in the buildings, which were

constructed in Calcutta and Madras.^^

However in the hill stations, the British had a free hand to build

exact replica of their houses and public buildings as in their native

27. Ibid. p. X.
28. Ibid. p. X.
 60

England. The climate was suitable and the material, too, was quite similar

and, therefore, the houses and the buildings with pitched roofs to save

from rains and snow were constructed with great elegance. However, at

places, flat roofs and verandahs were also added in conformity with

Indian traditions.^^

While, after 1857, the British started consolidating their

governance in India, they held three Delhi Durbars that were organized to

show off the might of British power. The third Delhi Durbar was held on

12 December 1911 when George V the King of England and Queen Mary

were present and lord Hardinge, the Viceroy of India officially

announced the transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The king and

Queen laid the foundation of New Delhi three days later on 15 December

at Kings way camp. The secretariat (old) building came in existence in

1912 near the ridge an area called civil lines. This is now better known as

old secretariat as the government of India offices was located here,

afterwards this building used to house. The Delhi State Administrative

buildings for planning and execution of works of the new city of New

Delhi also came up near the ridge.'^'^

Colonial architecture in the early cities of Madras, Bombay and

Calcutta were elegant and modest structures, capturing a nostalgic

29. Ibid. p. X.
30. A.P. Bhatnagar, op.cit., p. 62.
 61

fragrance of Britain. The site selected for the new imperial capital was

hill called Raisina that rose at some distance away from the river and

directly west of the Purana Qila (old fort). The shift of capital of British

India from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911 necessitated the building of the

imperial city of New Delhi. The design of this city and its principal

buildings was entrusted to Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, both

architects were well versed in the neo-classical tradition flowing from the

European Renaissance. Their designs were expected to symbolize the

grandeur and power of the British Empire as evident at the beginning of

this century.^ ^

The entire new capital was designed on a complex geometric grid

with squares and circles radiating from the central axis of Kings way

(Rajpath). The chief architects were Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert

Baker. Their concept of an Imperial building for the Viceroys official

building-cum- residence (now President house) the processional kings

way and the stately colonnade and buildings of the north and south blocks

(Govt. Administrative buildings) were all conceived in a composite style

with features of Indian architecture mixed with Imperial traditions from

Greeko-Roman and European culture. Along with these stately

monuments came the laying of roads and residential bungalows, public

31. M.N. Ashish Ganju, 'Lutyens Bungalow Zone" Paul Suneet (ed.), A+D - A
Journal of Indian Architecture, Vol. xvi. No. 6, Delhi, Nov.-Dec. 1999, p. 24.
 62

utility services, example commercial centres - Connaught Place and

Churches/Chapels etc.

The Baker's plans for Delhi incorporated such features as spacious

colonnades, open verandahs, overhanging eaves or, cornices, and small

high windows openings. These structural devices increased the

circulation of air while reducing the amount of sunlight within buildings

and brought the outdoors close at hand. Apart from the classically -

inspired colonnade, all these features were standard elements of

indigenous architecture. The chajja or, wide projecting shade-giving

stone cornice, and jalis or pierced stone lattice screen to admit air but not

sunshine, are central features of Mughal architecture. In his Delhi

buildings are to the extreme climate and enhance their Indie appearance.

Perhaps the only Indian element adopted purely for its effect was the

chattri, or freestanding pavilion with a wide chajja, which mounts the

roofline of the secretariat buildings. These little structures did have an

aesthetic purpose to serve that of breaking the long horizontal lines of the

flat roofs - but they contribute a great deal to "Indianizing" these

imposing administrative blocks.^"^

32, Thomas R. Metcalf, 'Architecture and Empire, Sir Herbert Baker and the
Building of New Delhi', R.E. Frykenberg (ed.), Delhi through the Ages
Essays in Urban History, culture and society. New Delhi, 1986, p. 397.
 63

If we compare the buildings of Lutyens and Baker like Viceroy

house and Secretariat we found Bakers Secretariats by contrast show a

more direct grafting of Indian motifs on to the classical surfaces. In large

part, this reflects Baker's political concerns that the Secretariat buildings,

so visible on their high pediments, and so much more open to the

•5-2

comings and goings of Indians, should be seen to be distinctly Indian.

Thus, the buildings of New Delhi, then, were meant to connect

Britain's rule with Indias own Imperial Past, and at the same time to

evoke a sense of pride in the unique accomplishments of the British Raj.

The architectural symbolism of New Delhi has meaning primarily for the

British themselves. While the British chose a classical style for their new

capital (New Delhi) in some measure, simply because that was the

medium through which European apprehended empire.

In the meantime, many other buildings such as Public Utility

buildings were constructed in the light of the artistic traditions of the

country keeping in view the purpose they were intended to serve. No

doubt these buildings are quite impressive with the arches, brackets,

columns and ornamented doors and windows but they do not project the

real heritage of the country. They lack the artistic features of the age-old

Indian traditions.

33. Ibid. p. 397.

 64

However, it must be said, to quote Gavin Stamp, that "New Delhi

is one of the greatest things the British have ever done and it seems little

short of a miracle that an architect of towering genius was able to realise

almost all of his conception". "To Robert Byron writing in country life in

1931, Lutyens accomplished a fiasion of east and west and created a novel

work of art." He took the best of both traditions, and made them a double

magnificence to Jan Morris "it was hardly architecture at all really."^"*

Of course, it is true that "the pre-dominant imprint, in all walks of

life especially in the development of New Delhi areas has been that of the

British. They made Delhi the capital of their Indian empire in 1911 and

gave birth to the city of New Delhi. Lutyens Delhi as New Delhi is called,

is a blend of European and Indian architectural designs."^^

Within the building of New Delhi came to an end the most

magnificent era of British architecture. Many official, residential and

places of utility services such as hospitals, institutions, police stations,

circuit houses, and post offices etc. were built during the succeeding

years on a new colonial pattern. But they lacked architectural elegance

and were more or less replicas of the building constructed earlier.^^

34. P.N. Chopra and P. Chopra, op.cit., p. xi.

35. K.S. Singh (ed.). Peoples of India, vol. xx, Delhi, 1996, p. 7.
36. P.N. Chopra and P. Chopra, op.cit., p. ix.