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| Members of the Indian Civil Services chose to dwell in houseboats on the Dal Lake for fear of arousing the suspicions of the Maharaja of Kashmir |
In Jammu & Kashmir some of the best examples of colonial architecture can be found in the 20th century suburbs of Srinagar. Though isolated bungalows can still be found in older sections of the city, yet in areas like Samander Bagh, Barzulla, Wazir Bagh and parts of Magarmal Bagh and Karan Nagar, one can see continuous residential stretches dotted with many European looking chalets, cottages and country houses.
According to Showket Pakhtoon, MD, Elizabeth Tours and Travels, and president, Travel Agents Society of Kashmir (TASK), “Srinagar, being a historical city with cultural heritage dating back to the Mughal era, was more into limelight during the British rule. In Srinagar Kothi Bagh Tehsil was selected for the British to reside. This was done since the area was out of old town, full of Chinar trees and River Jhelum was close to the area. Once they settled permanently, the whole area was renamed as Residency Road. The present Emporium Building was the residence of the Viceroy of Kashmir, besides which was built the old Grindlays Bank Building, old Nedous Hotel Building.”
During the 18th and 19th century British occupation of Srinagar, colonial-style colleges, hospitals, and courts were constructed. In the downtown area of the city, are less well-known residences, mosques, temples, hammams, and bazaars constructed in the local vernacular of timber and masonry architecture. Together, these buildings represent an unusually intact pre-modern urban environment.
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| Tyndale Biscoe School started by Christian missionaries, was named after Canon Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe |
“The British had also built two more hospitals like Rainwari Hospital, but the building collapsed and a new hospital has been constructed there. They also built Chest Disease Hospital on Rustam Garhi Hillock,” states Pakhtoon. The Tyndale Biscoe School, a boys school founded in 1880 CE is the oldest in Srinagar.
There are also several lakes in the area, the most famous of them, Dal Lake, upon which no fewer than 500 houseboats ply their trade, that of hospitality – a phenomenon that dates back to 19th-century British India, when members of the Indian Civil Services chose to dwell in these seemingly temporary abodes, for fear of arousing the suspicions of the Maharaja of Kashmir at the time, as to their intentions of residency in Kashmir.
Pakhtoon states,”The British were instrumental in designing and building houseboats on Jhelum since the Maharaja did not allow them to build permanent houses under Article 370. Few decades later, the British were joined by few Parsi families who moved from Pune to Kashmir to settle trade here on the request of the British Residency, such as Pestonjee, who built Pestonjee Building, now a modern hotel and shopping mall there and another building by Dhanjibhoi.”
Colonial architecture
The early 20th century also witnessed the beginning of a continuous, ongoing process of migration from the inner, older core to the outlying city suburbs. New residential colonies came up like at Balgarden, Karan Nagar and Samander Bagh. The beginning of the 20th century witnessed the introduction of the first motorable road in the city on the right bank of the Jhelum near the Residency.
The advent of colonial architecture in the region can be traced back to the later part of the 19th century. Its earliest examples were the residential quarters of European visitors at Sheikh Bagh and some institutional buildings like Amar Singh College and Silk Factory. Colonial influences could be seen in both public as well as residential buildings of the late 19th and early 20th century, yet it was particularly the residences of that period where this style found its most visible manifestation. Long linear porches running along the entire length of the buildings; double storied bay windows; corner towers surmounted by octagonal or circular spires; series of gables and dormers projecting from steeply pitched roofs along with tall narrow chimneys are some of the most distinct features of this architectural style as followed in this region.
