INDO-SARCENIC AND COLONIAL

ARCHITECTURE IN CALCUTTA

SUBMITTED BY:
TANYA KUKREJA
NEERAJ VASHISHT
DHANANJAI SWARUP
R.SARVANA VINAYAK
MUGHAL STYLE-INDO PERSIAN
 Features of the
Confluence of Indian
and
Persian styles

 Mughal Design Terms :

The Indo-Persian style
flourished in the
Mughal period, and
culminated in the Taj
Mahal
DECLINE OF MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE

 Shah Jahan was succeeded by his puritanical son,

Aurangzeb, who had no soft spot for art and architecture.
 As a result, Mughal architecture suffered, with all
artisans migrating to work under the patronage of local
rulers.
 With no major architectural projects undertaken, the
Mughal style rapidly declined.
 This decline was evident in buildings such as Bibi Ka
Maqbara, built by Azam Shah, son of Aurangzeb.
 The last architectural marvel produced during this
waning period of Mughal rule was Safdarjung's Tomb,
mausoleum to the second Nawab of Awadh.
COLONIAL ERA-(1500 AD-1947 AD)
 Under colonial rule, architecture became an emblem of
power, designed to endorse the patron.
 Numerous outsiders invaded India and created
architectural styles reflective of their ancestral and
adopted homes.
 The European colonizers created architecture that
symbolized their mission of conquest, dedicated to the
state or religion.
 The British, French, Dutch and the Portuguese were
the
main powers that colonized India.
BRITISH COLONIAL ERA- 1615-1947

 The British arrived in 1615 by overthrowing the

Mughal empire.

 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,
Nagpur, Bhopal and Hyderabad.
BRITISH COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA
 Architecture during British India

 Includes Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture (also

known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-
Mughal); and colonial era Neoclassical architecture
in India.
 WHAT IS INDO-SARCENIC?

An architectural style movement by British architects in the late

19th century British India which drew elements from native Indo-
Islamic and Indian architecture, and combined it with the Gothic
revival and Neo-Classical styles favoured
in Victorian Britain.

 More evident in later half of 19th century

 Lasted for around 30 years.
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE STYLE
• BEFORE 1857- European classical style (incorporating Greek
and Roman Features such as columns, triangular pediments)
employed for the public buildings: image as the holders of
power and status and to distance themselves from the
natives.

• REVOLT OF 1857- India began to be ruled under the British

crown: essential to legitimatize their rule and connect to
the natives of the colonised land.
“In the public buildings put up by the Raj it was essential
always to make visible Britain’s imperial position as ruler , for
these structures were charged with the explicit purpose of
representing empire itself. Since they wanted to legitimatize
their rule, they decided to justify their presence by relating
themselves to the previous rulers, the Mughals. The British
deliberately kept Mughal princes in power so as to not to
provoke Indian contempt and to further establish their
connection to the Mughals. These princes were a vision of
the future, but the British also needed them to be a
representation of the past. And it worked.”

-Sir Thomas Metcalf

 PROMINENT FEATURES
• Onion (Bulbous) Domes • Many Miniature Domes, or Domed
• Overhanging Eaves Chhatris
• Pointed Arches, Cusped Arches, or • Towers or Minarets
Scalloped Arches • Harem Windows
• Vaulted Roofs • Open Pavilions
• Domed Kiosks • Pierced Open Arcading
 PROMINENT BUILDINGS TYPES

Courts and other Civic Buildings Clock Towers

Railway Stations Art Galleries

Government Colleges and High School Buildings Palaces of the Indian Maharajas
Map showing the locations of cities having Indo Saracenic style buildings in India
 CALCUTTA
 Calcutta –bordered by water and division of
Indian
in the north.

 The Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, is the most

effective symbolism of British Empire, built as a
monument in tribute to Queen Victoria’s reign
VICTORIAMEMORIAL

PLACE–
KOLKATA(1906-
1921)
DesignedbyWILLIAMEMERSON
PLAN
 ARCHITECTURAL
STYLE
• Indo Saracenic Revival
Architecture-

Architectural style movement by

British architects in the late 19th
century in British India. It drew
elements from native Indo-Islamic
and Indian architecture, and
combined it with the Gothic revival
and neo-classical styles favoured
in Victorian Britain.
INTERIOR SIDE OF DOME HAREM WINDOWS
 RAJ BHAVAN
(GOVERNMENT HOUSE)

1799-1803

Ar. Charles Wyatt

Kolkata

NEO CLASSICAL &

BAROQUE STYLE

RAJ BHAVAN
 IMITATION
HISTORICISM

RAJ BHAVAN KEDLESTON HALL

RAJ BHAVAN KEDLESTON HALL
 N E O C L A S S I C A L

Front
Gable
BROAD Roof
CORNICE
Front Façade
with columns
and corner
pilasters
Symmetrically
placed windows
Elliptic
IONIC al
COLUMN
fanligh
t

Greek Revival

Classical
Revival
 Domes
B
Curved Lines
A
R
O
Q
U
E
CurvedArches
Drawing Room Dining Hall
Tuscan
Marble
Columns
Floor Cloistered
Room
Plain
Walls
INDIAN MUSEUM
INDIAN MUSEUM 1875

BY WALTER L. B.
GRANVILLE

KOLKATA
Doric columns fused
with arch opening

Large arched
openings

Colonnaded corridor
 Cornice on walls
for decoration

VERAND
A
EASTER
N

Roof
supported
by arches

SOUTHERN
VERANDA
 Tuscan
Columns

GROUND

FLOO

LOBB

Y
Doric Columns

Louver
ed
Shutter
s

EXTERIOR
 WRITERS'BUILDING
PLACE – KOLKATA(1777-1906)
Designed by THOMAS LYON
The Writers' Building was designed by Thomas Lyon
in 1777 for the British East India Company. In 1821 a
128 ft-long verandah with Ionic columns, each 32 ft
high, were added on the first and second floors.
From 1889 to 1906 two new blocks were added,
approached by iron staircases that are still in use.
Writers' acquired its Greco-Roman look, complete
with the portico in the central bay and the red
surface of exposed brick. The parapet was put in
place and the statues sculpted by William Fredric
Woodington in 1883, that line the terrace, were
installed.[3]

The building was intended to be the effective

headquarters of the East India Company in the
Bengal province of the Mughal Empire.
TIMELINE
1776: The site of the demolished St Anne's church and the adjoining plot were granted to Thomas Lyon, after whom Lyons Range is
named, to construct buildings to accommodate the junior servants of the East India Company called "writers". Lyon was acting on
behalf of Richard Barwell, member of the council, when Warren Hastings was governor. Writers' Building was the first three-storey
building in Calcutta.

1800: Fort William College, opened to train writers in Oriental languages, later moved to this building. Over the next 20 years,
structural changes were made: a hostel for 32 students and an exam hall, which still exist, a lecture hall, four libraries and rooms to
teach Hindi and Persian.

1821: A 128 ft-long verandah with Ionic columns, each 32 ft high, were added on the first and second floors.

Cluster of statues atop Writers' Building

1830: The college moved out of Writers' and the building fell into the hands of private individuals who turned it into living quarters,
shops and godowns. The Government College of Engineering functioned from here for some time.

1871–74: George Campbell, lieutenant governor-general, felt the need for a secretariat for "quick disposal of work". But the East
Indian Railway Company occupied a large space at Writers' and was unable to find alternative accommodation.

1877–82: Ashley Eden, lieutenant-governor of Bengal, was told to relocate the principal offices, housed on Sudder Street and
Chowringhee, to Writers'. Because of the space crunch, initially three blocks were constructed.

1879–1906: Two new blocks were added, approached by iron staircases that are still in use. Writers' acquired its Greco-Roman look,
complete with the portico in the central bay and the red surface of exposed brick. The parapet was put in place and statues sculpted
by William Fredric Woodington in 1883 were installed lining the terrace. The statue of Minerva stands above the central portico.

Since 1947: At the time of independence in 1947, Writers' had a large courtyard with seven blocks. By 1970, all 13 blocks were
constructed. But only the main block, including the rotunda and five main blocks, are heritage structures.
CONSTRUCTIONPHASES
FIRST • Designed as barracks to
PHASE provide accommodation
(1777-1778) to
the john company's
‘writers’.
• A three storied structure .

• A veranda
long on the south front
added bei
and two small
ng pediments
on columns by lord
wellesley.
• And a better
ornamented façade (by SECOND
capt. George lindsay). PHASE
(1820-1821)
ROTUNDA GEORGI NEOCLASSICAL DORIC PEDIMENTED ENTRANCES
A N ARCHITECTURE
ROOFS

IONIC COLUMNS

MINERVA STATUES ITALIAN GRECIAN FONTAGE

THIRD PHASE- complete re-

modelling of the front façade
by
E.J. Martin(1877-1905)
PLANANDELEVATION
THEN…

NOW…
EMERGINGART DECO
STRUCTURES
Elite Cinema
Hall
ChaplinCinema
Tower
House
Metro
Cinema