SPIRIT OF THE PLACE: EVOLUTIONAND TRANSFORMATION OF ISTANBUL CHOWK, LAHORE Faisal Sajjad* Neelum Naz** Ghulam Abbas Anjum*** ABSTRACT Very few scholars have written about Lahores urban history The main focus of this research is the study of Istanbul and theory. William Glover (2008) is one who has discussed Chowk, Lahore from the perspective of its historical evolution Colonial spatial imagination and planning of Lahore in his during the British Colonial period and post partition book Making Lahore Modern. The other author who has transformation. This area was known as Exhibition Road theorised the aspect of peoples association with public during the British times and Patras Bukhari Chowk after places, with Lahore as a case study is Suvorova (2011) in partition, named after the famous writer and the former her book Lahore: Topophilia of Space and Place. principal of Government College of Lahore. The name Istanbul Chowk was given later, named after the city of The physical planning of the space around Istanbul Chowk, Istanbul in Turkey. This is the first chowk or public space its description and analysis, pertaining to the quantifiable on the west end of the Mall Road, institutional in character aspect of urban space including layout, geometry and and an example of 19th century colonial planning. The Mall proximity is researched with the help of archival cartographic Road is named after the central street of London, which references. leads from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. Ceremonial royal processions pass down the Mall. This road The qualitative aspect including sense of space, sense of was planned in 1851 by Col. Napier to connect the city with enclosure, architectural character and environment has been the new cantonment that was 7 miles to the east. The constructed through the study and analysis of the archival theoretical aspect of Colonial spatial imagination is discussed photographs. in connection with the design of this unified urban space in its form and character. The intangible aspects of urban culture The intangible aspect mentioned as the spirit of place is contributing towards the construction of spirit of place discussed with the help of literary references about this place over a period of time extending into the post partition era in which a connection can be established between the physical have also been explored. This research paper also studies space and life in the area, transforming it into an identifiable the post partition gradual transformation of this place and place with a distinct culture. These references are also identifies the spatial changes and loss of urban heritage available from the literature available from post partition which played an important role in forming the identity and and are helpful in establishing the transformation in the spirit of this place. culture of this place. Keywords: Place making, colonial spatial imagination, genius A comparison is drawn between the formative period and loci, palimpsest, Lahore the current condition of Istanbul Chowk to identify and study the spatial transformation and its impact on the spatial RESEARCH METHODOLOGY integrity and urban culture. The research methodology encompasses a number of INTRODUCTION methods. The historical context of the area in general and Istanbul Chowk in particular is established with the help of Planned public spaces are commonly found in the heart of a review of archival documents and references are drawn most historical cities. In Pakistan, the term "square" is from various relevant sources. synonymous with chowk. Public spaces house political, * Faisal Sajjad, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, NCA, Lahore ** Dr. Neelum Naz, Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore *** Dr. Ghulam Abbas Anjum, Prof. and Dean, Department of Architecture, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning: Vol. 18, 2015 (First Issue) 33 economic and cultural life. They indicate a city designed ISTANBUL CHOWK: EVOLUTION AND LAYOUT for humans as these spaces are mostly pedestrian. These spaces because of their historicity, become iconic centers The British initially developed the Old Mall Road along the and form the identity of a city. It is the transformation from north-south axis with the old cantonment establishment in a public space to a public place that defines the collective the present day Anarkali area (area of Lahore outside the memory of a city. This is the phenomenon of place making walled city that served as the first British army Cantonment, which revolves around the notion of an abstract space being later on it developed as a bazaar). In 1851 the cantonment connected into a recognizable place in the city. was shifted to the Mian Mir area (named after the Mughal Period Saint Hazrat Mian Mir), seven miles to the east of Lahore is one of the most important cities of the sub-continent the current location and the present Mall Road was planned from both strategic and cultural perspectives. It was always to connect the city with the new Cantonment. Along this at the crossroads of civilizations. Many foreign invaders road new spatial typologies in the form of public spaces (Aryans, Greeks, Arabs, Afghans and Central Asian) passed were introduced. One of these was the Exhibition Road area through this area and left their impressions on the city. It (Istanbul Chowk), which was a public space with a defined was the capital of the Mughal Empire during the reign of character. This is the oldest planned area on the Mall. Its Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (1556-1605). The city development took place between 1860 and 1905 and it was ruled by the Sikhs and later by the British. This cultural formed the west end of the Mall, ending at the Nasir Bagh. layering has rendered Lahore like a palimpsest. This garden was the terminating axis of the Mall on the west end. It was initially known as Bandstand Garden, then as Lahore has a rich public life that has evolved around the Municipal Garden after the construction of Victoria Jubilee public spaces like the Friday Book Bazaar in Chowk Masjid Hall, it was also known as Gol Bagh because of its roughly Wazir Khan, the cultural environment of Chowk Neela round shape and Chowk. After partition it was renamed Gumbad, the educational environment of Chowk Istanbul Nasir Bagh after Jamal Abdul Nasir of Egypt. The Istanbul and the political character of Charing Cross, named after a chowk has been renamed several times too. It was initially square in London and renamed Faisal Square after King called Exhibition Road area, after 1876 its name was changed Faisal of Saudi Arabia in 1973 at the time of Islamic Summit to Upper Mall, post partition it was renamed as Patras Conference. The city of Lahore has seen the evolution and Bukhari Chowk after the famous writer and Principal of transformation of its public spaces, both spatially and Government College Lahore, and finally it was named culturally. Istanbul Chowk to commemorate Pak-Turk friendship (Figure 1). In this reference, the Colonial period is of specific importance since it was the beginning of modern planning in Lahore. Punjab went under the Company Rule (The British East India Company) in 1849 and was finally annexed to the Crown (The British Empire) in 1858. Under the Companys rule, architecture and planning was limited to retrofitting and improvement of services. It was under the Crown that the new ideas and theories of urban design were implemented outside the walled city of Lahore. In the case of Istanbul Chowk it was strategic incremental addition of institutional buildings that defined the urban space. The nature and use of these buildings was of prime importance because without any confusion the British planners conceived this place as cultural, educational and institutional in nature. Even the sculptures and monuments added to this character. This gave the area a distinctive sense Figure 1: Istanbul Chowk of place and character. Source: www.googleimages.com accessed 23-6-14 34 Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning: Vol. 18, 2015 (First Issue) Goulding and Thornton (1924: 52) mentions the stretch of time took in the planning and their concern for the Mall between Anarkali and Gol Bagh as the Exhibition Road environment of the area: area. He writes that this was built to commemorate the inauguration of the Punjab Exhibition Building in 1864. later still the whole length of the Mall was remodelled on This building was constructed to house the exhibition of the its present lines under the personal supervision of the late crafts of Punjab. It was later converted into a market and Mr DuCane Smythe, Chief Engineer, who in turn, was renamed as Tollinton Market. supervised by the then Lieutenant Governor, Sir Charles Rivaz. It was nothing unusual to meet, on a winters morning, In the 1920s map (Figure 2) the Exhibition Road is annotated these two high officials in earnest consultation by the as Upper Mall and is of varying width throughout. The roadside. On one occasion the writer saw the Chief Engineer Anarkali Road crossing the Mall Road divides the institutional kneeling on the ground with a measuring tape in his hands, zone and the commercial zone. The Mall is wider in front while on another the Lieutenant-Governor, who never allowed of the Tollinton Market with a rectangular green space across the felling of a tree if it could possibly be avoided, was and is narrower in front of the Museum, but the presence of personally superintending the marking of certain roadside the fenceless semi-circular green spaces with carriageways trees which had to come down when the Mall was being in front of the Museum and the Punjab University Senate realigned and widened opposite the Mayo School of Art.