ABUL HASSAN HAVELI,

OLD DELHI
AYUSH RAWAT
A/3251/2019
Brief Introduction

• Abul Hassan assumes the date of construction early I800’s as Ourban Ali Begh ( son
of Alam Begh) signed the contract of sale in 1869 and he must be 50 by then and
assuming that haveli must be built before he was born.

• It is not known whether Alam Begh built the haveli - it might therefore be older.

• The haveli used to house a large extended family as is usual.

• Mr Hassan moved into his wife's family's house from his paternal one in another part of
Balli Maran because after Mrs hassan’s death there were no male heirs

• There used to be considerable open space around here with bagichis in all part of
the haveli of Alam Begh. But with the pressure of population this became developed
as a katra named after Alam Begh. The neighbourhood is now heavily built up and
densely populated

• This small haveli in the Balli Maran area belonged to Nawab

Alarn Baig, an ancestor of Mrs Hassan's, who gave the katra
its name.

• The entrance to the haveli is from a gali that is reached via a

gateway which is in turn at the end of a small gall leading from
the bazaar.

ABUL HASSAN HAVELI

 A
Site Sections
Neighboring House B B’
Neighboring House Abul Hassan Haveli

A’

Section AA’

Neighboring House
Abul Hassan Haveli

Narrow Street

Section BB’
Demographics & Zoning

• The haveli is ancestral Property of Asifa Hassan, who lives there with her
husband Abul Hassan and daughter Farrah along with Abul Hassan’s
mother and a few other members

• there were two specific people whom the family would not talk about
who also live in the house.

• There is a student living with them too who is hassan’s friend’s son

• Along with them there are a few servants .

• In total there are 13+ members living in the haveli

Safdari Begum, 70 years

Abul Hassan, 60
(educationalist ministry/ UNESCO) Asifa Hassan, late 50s

Farrah, 22
Roohi Abida, married, left
BA beautician

Saifuddin, student Man servant Woman servant

(son’s friend) (deceased)
Dalaan Deodhi Family Room

Side Rooms Diwankhana Kitchen

Courtyard

Two more women

Diwankhana Storage Barsaati
Frequent guests
Life Style

• The family leads a very easy lifestyle

• The generally wakeup at 8am or so in the morning
• On the week days Mr. Hassan and his daughter generally leaves the house at around 8 30 am for work
• On other days they take breakfast even later in the day
• There is no strict schedule followed
• They generally have visitors in the house to spend their time with
• Afternoons are resting time for the family
• And in the evening they do their community activities like playing
• Sense of community is very strong there, reflected from the fact they know all their neighbour's , celebrate festivals with them and also let them use their
courtyards whenever required
• Mindset of the family is quite progressive as they no more believe in the purdah system followed by their ancestors
• For summers now there are coolers. Earlier they used to sleep outside during summer before. Courtyard is also used to sit out in the winter sun.

8 A.M.

MORNING WAKING
UP

8: 30 A.M.

LEAVING
FOR WORK

12 P.M.

RESTING

4 P.M.

COMMUNITY
ACTIVITIES
Plans

A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I

1 1
OTHER
OTHER UPPER
FAMILY ROOM SIDE KOTHRIS
SIDE ROOM GALLERY/
ROOM
BARSATI
2 2

3 3

MAIN FAMILY DALAAN

KITCHEN
COURTYARD

4 4

6 5

OTHER OTHER KOTHRIS

SIDE SIDE ROOM UPPER
ROOM GALLERY/
7 DIWANKHANA BARSATI
6
DIWANKHANA
COURTYARD
DEODHI

8 7

ENTRANCE

GROUND FLOOR PLAN FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Section

Family Room

Kitchen Courtyard

Dalaan

SECTION
 Activity Mapping & Challenges

Activity Timing
Waking up 8 A.M Side Room

Breakfast 11 A.M.

Chatting with guest 12 A.M.

Napping 3 P.M.

Going to Club 5 P.M. Kitchen Dalaan

CHALLENGES
Some of the issues faced by the residents of haveli are:

Maintenance – It is proving to be Expensive for Abdul Hassan

to maintain the 200 year old haveli. Petty repairs cost him
thousands of rupees. Even though he has been offered to sell Side Room
this haveli, he doesn’t want to give into his economic
pressures.

Local Facilities – The surrounding neighbourhood isn’t clean

and tidy. Its poorly maintained with dirt and slush all over . The
water facilities, the electricity, the roads, the atmosphere,
cleanliness, all the things that belong to the community are
proving to be liabilities instead of assets. Abdul Hassan and his
daughter would prefer his small government flat over this
spacious haveli when cleanliness and other facilities are
compared.
Wakeup at 8 A.M. Chatting with guest at 12 P.M.
Privacy – There is meagre privacy in the rooms of the house.
Breakfast at 11 A.M. Napping or watching tv at 3 P.M.
According to him one would suffocate if enclosed in a room.
Going to Club at Evening.
Activity Mapping
Sitting
Eating • In case of big events and feasts • Side room and Dalaan are
courtyards are used most frequently used
• All meals are generally eaten in
spaces for sitting
kitchen.
• If number of people is more then 2
then side room is preferred

kitchen

Dalaan
Courtyard

• Side room and Dalaan are most

frequently used spaces for sitting
Cooking
• Generally Kitchen is used for
cooking purposes Receiving Guests
• Side room and Dalaan are also
used

Sitting Sitting
• Family gathering • For bigger events courtyard is used because kitchen is small in size
time • During summers evenings and winter afternoons courtyards are also preferred
Construction
• Construction: Walls: Stucco
• Stonework: Carved and turned stone on brick. Cusped arches of
columns in dalaan and side room, Also stucco probably on carved
chajjas , and supporting brackets. • Roof. Finely ground thin brick.
screed of lime, sand,
brick dust and additives
on construction as
floors.

• Floors: Brick spanning

closely spaced timber
joists with compacted
topping of lime, sand
• Paving: Brick paving in and brick dust.
courtyard. Sand/lime/brick
dust in dalaan.