The City and Its Architecture
Jawhar Sircar
Take on India (art journal), Special issue on Bengal
Vol 4, no 3, 3 Dec, 2019
It
is only natural for Kolkata to have some of the finest specimens of colonial
architecture. After all, it enjoyed the status of being, for one and half
centuries, the capital of the British Empire in India and of the East India
Company’s Dominions, prior to that. We may marvel at the Gothic architecture of
the High Court and St Paul’s Cathedral as great examples of this class. Unlike
Mumbai’s Fort area, however, Kolkata does not too many outstanding Gothic
buildings. It has quite a few Neo Classical buildings like the Cossipore Club,
the Sanskrit College on College Street, as also the Metcalfe Hall, the
Commercial Library and the Town Hall — all three of which are in the central
BBD Bagh area, known earlier as Dalhousie Square. Others in this area, like the
Old Silver Mint and even the main block and entrance of Writers’ Buildings have
typical Greek or Roman columns, capitals, architraves, friezes. and have a
classic triangular pedimenta on top.
All the
major forms of Graeco-Roman classical columns are in abundance, not only in
government or institutional buildings, but in many old aristocratic family
homes of north Kolkata. For example, the General Post Office, the National
Insurance Building and the Metcalfe House, all in the BBD Bagh zone have
gorgeous Corinthian capitals to crown their impressive columns or shafts. The
Indian Museum on Chowringhee (now known as Jawaharlal Nehru Sarani), the
Sadharan Brahmo Samaj building on Bidhan Sarani and the Ghari Bari on Chitpur
Road also have fine specimens of this column. So commonplace is this style that
even an ordinary bathing ghat on Strand Road, like Moti Seal’s, has them,
though it is doubtful if the bathers ever look up to appreciate the decorative
foliage. Ionic columns are also plentiful, as on the Raj Bhavan, Calcutta
University’s Darbhanga Building on College Street and the Lohia Hospital on
Chitpur Road, while simpler Doric or Tuscan columns are the most common. There
is an interesting combination that several old churches in Kolkata had adopted
and that was to build a complete classical building that looked like a Greek
temple, which were utterly pagan, and then construct a tall spire with a cross
on top of it, to indicate that it was a Christian church. The best examples I
can give are the St. John’s Church and St. Andrew’s Kirk, both in the BBD Bagh
area, as well as St. Thomas’ Church attached to Loretto College and the Sacred
Heart Church on Dharmatala (Lenin Sarani).
Domes
decorate the roof corners of impressive buildings with mixed European
architecture like the Metropolitan Building of the LIC ( formerly Whiteway
Laidlaw Stores) on Chowringhee and the Esplanade Mansions opposite the East
Gate of Raj Bhavan are excellent examples. The latter, incidentally, has
tell-tale signs of Art Nouveau architecture that was so popular at the end of
the 19th and early 20th centuries. While the very Roman
dome of the GPO dominates the landscape, the Mercantile Building and Gillander
House close to it in BBD Bagh also have impressive domes. As Kolkata’s masonry
buildings did not need or have sloping or gabled roofs, Georgian architecture
was not in fashion, though large institutional or public buildings like
Writers’ Buildings or the Accountant General’s office do have black,
utilitarian tar-felted sloping mansards covering a part of their flat
balustraded roofs.
Other forms
of European, or more specifically, British architecture, are also quite
visible, especially in Central Kolkata and a little to the south that were part
of the old ‘White Town’. Massive red exposed-brick architecture, laced with
cream-coloured sandstone on cornices and decorative lines, were extremely
popular. This is evident from Writers’ Buildings, Eastern Railway Building, the
Foreign Post Office, Accountant General’s Office, Government of India Press,
Royal Insurance building and the Postal Museum — all of which are located in
the BBD Bagh and within walking distance of each other. Even beyond, we come
across very impressive such buildings of exposed brick in the Chowringhee area,
like the Chowringhee Mansions and Kanak Building (formerly the Army and Navy
Stores). The YMCA building, not too far away, and the Government Art College,
which is also quite close, also belong to this category. The exposed red brick
style was adopted by numerous institutions and residences in north Kolkata as
well. We see it in the Brahmo Balika and Deaf and Dumb schools near Maniktala.
Even in the south-central Kolkata, we have Shambhunath Pandit Hospital in the
same style.
Towards the
beginning of the 20th century, we find that many commercial
buildings in central Kolkata dispensed with grand neo classical and similar
sprawling buildings and made maximum use of floor space by cutting down bays,
arcades, cloisters or large verandas — even though the hot, humid climate of
Kolkata demanded open spaces and cross ventilation. Instead, they came up with
buildings that rose straight upwards, directly from the pavements, with long
symmetrical facades. Their ground floors were almost invariably rusticated,
i.e., had deep decorative grooves that ran horizontally. If they had Venetian
windows with circular arches above them, then the grooves matched them. They
flaunted classical columns on their corners or at intervals along the facade,
either to bear loads or as pilaster decorations. Macleod House, Wallace House,
Stephen House and Martin Burn House in BBD Bagh are good specimens of such
architecture, as are several buildings on Central Avenue, from Dharmatala to
Bow Bazar.
Prosperous
Indians of north Kolkata, however, copied a lot of European styles to lend
grandeur to their mansions and to overawe visitors. Very often, so many styles
and elements were combined that it makes categorisation difficult. Baroque
plaster or stucco decorations were in great demand and stately classical
columns would often be capped with
excessively carved floral and leafy designs on the pediments or facades.
These foreign elements were combined with the very local need to have a clear
separation between the road-facing main building (sadar mahal)
and the female quarters (andar mahal), hidden from public view.
It was, therefore, essential to have a quadrangular courtyard so that the two
quarters could be separate, and yet be joined by narrower buildings on two
sides of the quadrangle, with covered verandahs and rooms. Light and
ventilation would then be ensured in all the rooms. Special attention needs to
be paid to a few local adaptions, like the louvred wooden screens that covered
the top half or more of the porch, bay or verandah. These massive wooden
boards, with slanting but fixed Venetian blinds, were firmly joined to the neo
classical columns, shafts or cast iron pillars. This was to protect inmates against the scorching sun and
gusty thunderstorms that would have flooded the verandahs and living rooms just
beyond them. After all, the climate of Bengal is most unsuited to grandiose
European architecture, as the doors or windows (if any) of the traditional
huts, cottages or even double-storied mud houses were indeed very small, to
protect residents against the elements. Thick mud walls and high thatched roofs
helped control the outside temperatures, but most men, children and older
ladies preferred to sleep in the open courtyard, at least where commoners were
concerned.
When the
middle class of Kolkata started moving into masonry buildings, and electricity
including fans had not reached the city, cross ventilation of the stuffy rooms
was essential. Hence the louvres or wooden Venetian blinds were retained on the
smaller windows, but could be opened or shut, to prevent heat or rain and allow
some breeze in. These are famous in Bengal, as the kharkhori. This is a
distinctive feature of houses in Kolkata and Bengal that were built till the
1960s, when the electric fan reached middle class homes. An element of
Kolkata’s architecture, that was comparable to Sydney— the two great cities of
the British Empire, incidentally, had regular ships plying between them — was
the intricately designed cast-iron balustrades and gates. They are called
‘verandah railings’ locally, but verandahs were actually meant the balconies
that jutted outwards from the walls or constructions. Railings meant the
usually-wooden lining on which one leaned, running on top of the the cast iron
balustrades, that were fixed erect from the extended masonry balconies. The
foundries of Howrah produced these cast iron balustrades for balconies and
guards on the margins of staircases, as they lent, beauty, dignity, strength
and lasted very long. Wonderful geometric, floral and other artistic patterns
were created by cast iron makers at the request of their patrons and leafy
vines or even family crests or coat of arms were quite popular. I have used the
past tense as towards the middle of the twentieth century, cheaper inferior and
less artistic wrought iron balustrades replaced them in smaller houses. The old
balustrades still exist on many an ancient building of Kolkata, largely rusted
and uncared for, but they give an idea of olden times and lost glory.
There is
yet another architectural element that is seen in almost every aristocratic
house of the 18th and 19th century Kolkata. It was most
prominent in the house of the fabulously rich Raja Nabakrishna Deb, who made
his fortune after conspiring with the British in the Battle of Plassey. His khilan
thakur dalan or pillared porch arose from the rectangular courtyard in the sadar
mahal the house. It was meant to house the family deity and also accommodate
goddess Durga during her worship in autumn. Deb started the ritual of inviting
British civil and military officials to impress them with his Durga Puja, but
we can be sure that the white men came to this ‘heathen celebration’ not only
to humour their factotum, but also to witness the Indian dancing girls, who
were the star attraction. Wine and meat flowed in abundance, as worship became
secondary in Deb’s show of pomp and power. All this was against Hindu rituals,
but his wealth had secured Deb the position of being the undisputed leader of
the upper caste Hindu tradition in Kolkata. These raised platforms, housing the
deities, had thick load-bearing pillars in front, that were one-storey high, as
the house above them usually went up to three storeys. Beautiful arches adorned
and joined the upper part of these columns— serving as open doorways to view
the deities. The number of such openings were usually three (teen khilan
dalan) or five (panch khilan dalan). The plaster on
the walls, the thick, short pillars and the arches was often ornamented and the
multi-floriated arches were copied from the late medieval terracotta temples that had incorporated them from Islamic
architecture. The raised sacred porch led down to the central courtyard through
a gentle flight of stairs. These
wonderful thakur dalans are still well preserved in most old
houses, as no one would like to upset the family deity. Though there are no idols kept in the very
Brahmo house of Rabindranath Tagore and his ancestors in Jorasanko, the porch
and the paved quadrangle are very impressive. These are utilised by Rabindra
Bharati University that is housed there, for its events and performances.
Besides the houses of the Sovabajar Rajbari (Deb family’s), those of the Mitras
of Darjipara, of Jagatram Dutta of Nimtala, of Dwarpanarayan Tagore in
Pathuriaghaa, of the Roys of Jorasanko and the Jhamapukur Rajbati — all of
which are in north Kolkata — flaunt excellent, typically-Bengali khilan
thakur dalans.
The
last feature that we may observe needs to be introduced properly as it is still
not included as a very unique style of architecture of south Kolkata. I refer
to Art Deco that stormed the western world between the two world wars. From the
1930s, architect firms like Ballardie, Thomson & Mathews introduced Art
Deco to Kolkata and by the 1940s, iconic structures came up — like the English
movie theatres: Metro, Globe, New Empire, Roxy and Lighthouse. Several other
local theatres of north Kolkata. The characteristic features of the style
reflected admiration for the modernity of the machine and for the inherent
design qualities of machine-made objects, e.g., relative simplicity, planarity,
symmetry, and unvaried repetition of elements. The distinguishing marks of the
style are simple, clean shapes, often with a “streamlined” look that conveyed
geometric symmetry — which replaced the grand ostentatious older buildings.
While the western world used Art Deco for public buildings and gave up the
fashion after the Second World War, Kolkata’s residential buildings adopted it
only in the 1950s and 1960s. This style was in vogue in the newly-built
localities of south Kolkata. The upper middle class or new rich for used it for
their bungalows in the Alipore area and for large four storied houses in New
Alipore. The three storied Art Deco buildings (sometimes four storied) are in
plenty on Lake Road-Southern Avenue. The rest of the salary earners had their
own scaled down versions for their modest homes in the areas on both sides
of Rashbehari Avenue-Gariahat and in
Ballygunge. These Art Deco buildings, that were called ‘Metro-style’ houses,
had curved semicircular balconies or verandahs, with horizontal bands running
on the sides as stepped cornice lines. At
times, they had vertical lines of varying lengths down the middle, in perfect
geometric shapes. Clean, sharp defined rectangular corners on one side could
happily coexist with semi circular balconies and gently curved architecture on
the other side. The central staircase usually had glass panes all the way up
the top, running along the middle of the building, with a small flag stand on
top. This style has not yet acquired celebrity heritage status, as few observe
its sheer beauty and everyone is so fixated on the neo classical and other
grander architecture of Kolkata. It is time we recognised smaller Art Deco
residences as Kolkata’s unique contribution.
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