Historic Buildings at Chitpur in Kolkata: Problems and Prospects Through Urban Conservation and Planning Shivashish Bose
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This article was downloaded by: [Shivashish Bose] On: 12 October 2012, At: 07:41 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK disP - The Planning Review Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rdsp20 Historic Buildings at Chitpur in Kolkata: Problems and Prospects Through Urban Conservation and Planning Shivashish Bose To cite this article: Shivashish Bose (2012): Historic Buildings at Chitpur in Kolkata: Problems and Prospects Through Urban Conservation and Planning, disP - The Planning Review, 48:1, 68-82 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2012.702987 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. 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The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. 68 disP 188 · 1/2012 Historic Buildings at Chitpur in Kolkata: Problems and Prospects Through Urban Conservation and Planning Shivashish Bose Abstract: Kolkata (historically Calcutta) is a lin- Gobindapur, which constituted the north, cen- Dr. Shivashish Bose studied Bachelor of Architecture and ear city that has grown along the eastern bank tral and south of what was then Kolkata, from Master of Architecture/Urban of the river Hugli (also spelled Hooghly, and tra- the Bengali merchant Sabarna Raychoudhury. Design at the Jadavpur University ditionally called the Ganges, in the West Bengal Charnock amalgamated the three villages and in Kolkata, India. After several State of India. It served as the capital city of Brit- seeded the British Empire in India. The British research- and study-visits abroad (such as in Rome, Paris, Swit- ish India from 1773–1910. The British developed initially built a fort, a church and some houses zerland, Greece) he joined the colonial architecture mostly in the central busi- in Kolkata. A survey of Kolkata made in 1706 Jadavpur University as a Reader ness district and the residential area designated showed eight Pucca (permanent brick houses) in 2004 and presently is Associ- for them. In the Chitpur area of north Kolkata, and 8000 Kutcha (temporary mud houses with ate Professor. He also practices architecture and conservation in the Indians constructed buildings following Eu- a thatched roof), with two streets and two lanes Kolkata. ropean styles, but modifying parts according to and a population of 22,000. In 1756, the num- their own social customs, individual choices and ber of Pucca houses increased to 498 and Kut- dictation – thus introducing a new style which cha houses to 14,450 (Ghosh 1996), and there was termed “Bengal Baroque” by some and gen- were no less than 27 big streets and 52 smaller erally called the “indigenous style”. Other old streets (Deb 1905). The British dug the Maratha buildings also follow certain architectural typol- Ditch in 1742 to protect the British territory in ogy and bear the history of eminent personali- the central part of Kolkata. Eleven km in cir- ties of the society, thus constituting an overall cumference, it defined the boundary of Kolkata cultural setting. However, many old buildings at the time (Ghosh 1996). The city experienced are in bad physical condition and have legal its first planned intervention in terms of town litigation. Meanwhile, tremendous real estate planning, land use, zoning and development in development and uncontrolled traffic circula- 1757 after the British defeated the King of Ben- tion within this historic district are destroying gal (Nawab Siraj-ud-Doullah) in the battle of the buildings, the historic cultural patina and Plassey (in Murshidabad) and acquired adminis- the essence of the place. An urban design and trative rights from the newly appointed King for planning solution is to be sought which would territorial expansion of Kolkata (Cotton 1909). encompass the conservation of historic and old It became the capital city of British India in buildings and elements of the area as well as 1773 (Cotton 1980) and remained so up to 1911 control over development for cultural compat- when Delhi became the capital city of India Downloaded by [Shivashish Bose] at 07:41 12 October 2012 ibility and environmental sustainability. (Sinha 1990). Early important places of develop- ment in Kolkata by the British were: • Dalhousie area as the British administrative Introduction citadel and the central business district of the nascent city History has recorded the existence of Kolkata • Esplanade Park Street/Chowringhee area as the since the twelfth century. Kolkata was under residential, commercial, educational and recre- central Mughal Rule and under the provincial ational area of the British and other Europeans Nawab (king) of Bengal up to the late eighteenth • Riverfront area for commercial and recre- century. Many European nationals such as the ational activities Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danes and Arme- • Chitpur area, mostly along the Chitpur Road, nians came to areas on the western side of the (now Rabindra Sarani) as the residential, com- river Hugli near Kolkata during the sixteenth mercial and educational area of native Indians to seventeenth centuries and mostly settled (Figs. 1, 2). in these areas (Ghosh 1996). It was Job Char- Early architectural developments by the Brit- nock, a British merchant who came to Kolkata ish were around the Dalhousie area with the on 24 August 1690 (Cotton 1909; Deb 1905) construction of the Writers Building (ca. 1780), and bought three villages on the east bank of the Government House (presently the Gover- the river Hugli called Sutanuti, Kalikata and nor’s House, ca. 1804), Bengal Bank Building disP 188 · 1/2012 69 Fig. 1: Map of Kolkata showing heritage areas. (Source: Bose 2008, 2010) Fig. 2: Map of Chitpur area in north Kolkata. Year Area (sq km) Population Source 1698 7.531 - Wilson, Early Annals I, p. 286 1794 20.222 - A. K. Ray, A Short History of Calcutta, p. 58 1891 53.147 681,560 Census 1891 1901 83.151 847,796 Census 1901 1991 185 4,399,819 Census of India 1991 Tab. 1: Area and Population in Kolkata (Early growth and 2001 185 4,580,544 Census of India 2001 later municipal area). 2011 185 4,486,679 Provisional Population, Census of India, 2011 (Source: Nair, 1990; Census of India, 2001; 2011) (ca. 1806; demolished in 1996), Town Hall (ca. Tagore, Rajendra Lala Mitter, Banamali Sarkar, 1813), etc. (Ghosh 1996), to mention a few. Madan Mohan Dutt, Govindaram Mitter, Nub- Downloaded by [Shivashish Bose] at 07:41 12 October 2012 However, Bhattacharya wrote, “According kissen, Omichand, Ram Mohan Roy, Baisnab to the Magistrate’s Surveyors of 1819–20, there Charan Seth, Gouri Sen, Sobharam Basack, were a few “upper roomed houses” (8.3 per cent) Sukhamay Ray, Ramdulal Dey, Jadulal Mallick, and “lower roomed houses” (13.4 per cent); Kali Prosonno Sing, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, whereas straw huts constituted 54.2 per cent and Jatindra Mohan Tagore, Manmatha Ghosh, Khe- tiled huts 24.1 per cent” (Bhattacharya 1990). lat Ghosh, Raja Dinendra Narain Roy, Nandalal Gradually, the city developed in a linear direction Mullick (Fig. 3), Nilmoni Tagore, Dwarakanath both in the British and native populated areas. Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Laureate in Literature in 1913) (Fig. 4), Rajendralal Mal- lik (Fig. 5), Shama Churn Law, etc. (Deb 1905; Historic buildings at chitpur Lahiri Choudhury 1990). These wealthy merchants had business trans- The wealthy native gentlemen and merchants actions with the British and even lent money to with titles Raja (meaning king) and Maharaja the East India Company (British) (Deb 1905) to (meaning superior king) built their palatial establish a business. Their business and social houses in the Chitpur area. Some of the most and involvement with the British and their social mentionable persons and family members were and financial status had an influence on the Raj Bullabha, Nundkumar, Ram Charan, Gonga development of their residential architecture Gobvinda Sing, Radhakanta Deb, Darpanarain in extravagant styles. People of this region also 70 disP 188 · 1/2012 However, much of the ornamentation or or- ders did not follow true European orders or details, but those of Hindu architecture from north India such as Rajasthan, variations of Egyptian architectural motifs or Islamic tradi- tional architectural elements, or completely na- tive Bengali styles and ornamentation with im- ages of gods and goddesses, etc. For example, a temple at the end of the courtyard is never a European phenomenon. Because of such a unique mixture of architectural elements from Fig. 3: Clockhouse of Mullick different styles, these buildings were termed as on Chitpur Road. “indigenous” (meaning native) and also “Bengal Baroque” by art historians, critics and common people (Ghosh 1996). Regarding the uniquely contributed to the renaissance (development in mixed style of architecture, Moorhouse wrote, all fields of art, literature, education, cultural “But if you confront each building separately forms, social revolution and reform, science and head-on, you often find yourself goggling at technology, commerce and small scale indus- a perfect rhapsody of architecture. There will tries) of Bengal during the nineteenth and early be a doorway set between Doric columns with twentieth centuries.