Class Lecture at SSAA

1. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
History of Architecture-II (AP-313)
COLONIAL & INDO-SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE
LECTURE 2
Nipesh P Narayanan
ImageSource:http://www.collectorsguide.com/sf/sf-g/m017dl.jpg[Online]

2. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
COLONIALISM WHAT IT MEANS?

3. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
IS IT SO BAD? WHY DID IT HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE?
“Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.”
~ Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden, 1899

4. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
BURDEN ON THE WHITE MAN!
ImageSource:Gillam,Victor."TheWhiteMan'sBurden."Judge,1899[ONLINE]

5. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
BURDEN ON THE WHITE MAN!
Advertisement for Pears soap in 1899.
Admiral George Dewey the American Navy
Commander who destroyed the Spanish Navy
in Philippines
The first step towards lightening
The White Man’s Burden
Is through teaching the virtues of cleanliness
ImageSource:http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/romanafrica2/pears'soap.jpg

6. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ATTITUDE OF THE COLONISER
• I know it better than you!

7. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ATTITUDE OF THE COLONISER
• I know it better than you!
• I am raising the natives to civilization

8. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ATTITUDE OF THE COLONISER
• I know it better than you!
• I am raising the natives to civilization
• Win-Win situation
– Coloniser get the native resources
– Colonised gets to be civilized

9. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
COLONIALISM IN INDIA

10. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
COLONIALISM IN INDIA
• Portuguese (1505–1961)
• Dutch (1605 to 1825)
• British (1612-1947)
• French (1759–1954)

11. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ARCHITECTURE OF THE COLONIZER
• Need for colonizer’s architecture
» Started with Greeks
– French – Pondicherry
– Dutch – Coromandel, Malabar
– Portuguese – Goa
– British – Calcutta
“And there they set effigies of the prisoners arrayed in
barbarian costume and holding up the roof, their
pride punished by this deserved affront, that enemies
might tremble for fear of the effects of their courage,
and that their own people, looking upon this example
of their valour and encouraged by the glory of it,
might be ready to defend their independence.”
~ Vitruvius, Chapter 1, De Architectura (Around 15 BC)
ImageSource:TheTenBooksonArchitecture~TranslatedbyMorrisMorgan

12. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
COLONIALISM IN INDIA
• Pre 1857
– Functional
– Trade requirements

13. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
COLONIALISM IN INDIA
• Pre 1857
– Functional
– Trade requirements
• Post 1857
– Identity – Power & Superiority
– Social disparity
– Building for performance

14. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
NEW RULE NEW INSTITUTIONS
• Railway stations
– Engines of growth
• Courts
– A civilized world
• Colleges
– Modern education as a base for the society
• Hospitals
– Quality of life
• Post Offices
– Bureaucracy

15. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
NEW BRITISH CITY “NEW DELHI” & A ROMAN ARCH?
ImageSource:http://spectralhues.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/India-Gate.jpg

16. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
NEW LOGIC TO URBAN DESIGN
• Urban Inserts
– Nai Sadak
– Town Halls and clock tower
• Hill Stations
– Masoorie
– Shimla
• Cantonments
• Urban Extensions
– Civil Lines

17. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
NEW LOGIC TO BUILDING
• Military engineers
– MES
• PWD
– 1862
• Building laws
– 1855 plague
• ASI
– 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham

18. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
NEW LIFE STYLE
• New behavioural pattern
• Colonial life style of the rich
• New typologies
– Clubs
– Gymkhana
– Hotels
– Parks and Gardens
– Bungalows

19. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
WHY TAKE OVER THE GOVERNMENT?
• Build Infrastructure
• Railways
• Roads
• Social

20. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
MODES OF TRADE?
• Type 1:
– Basic Trade
– Civilizing the natives
• Type 2
– Basic trade
– Civilizing the natives
– PRODUCTION
• Capital Crops
• Semi Processed Goods
British
French
Portuguese
Dutch

21. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
EUROPEAN PALETTE
• Classical
• Romanesque
• Gothic
• Renaissance
• Baroque

22. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
PRE 1857
Introverted trading enclaves called “factories”
Factories Fort Towns/colonies

23. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
POST 1857
Magnificence of the Raj
Introverted
Colonies
Spectacle of
Power
Architecture
of the
Supreme

24. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
LONDON EAST INDIA HOUSE
Leadenhall Street in London (1729)
ImageSource:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/East_India_House_by_Thomas_Malton_the_Younger.jpg[ONLINE]

25. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
CALCUTTA WRITERS’ BUILDING
Architecture in India - 1777 (Construction started)
ImageSource:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Writers%27_Building.jpg[ONLINE]

26. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
WILLIAM HODGES AND VIEWS OF INDIA
"A View of the Fort of Agra on the River Jumna," by William Hodges, London, 1785-88

27. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
BRITISH UNDERSTANDING OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
Islamic Architecture
Hindu Architecture

28. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
INDO SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE
Islamic Architecture
Hindu Architecture
British Palette
(Import)

29. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
EUROPEAN PALETTE
• Classical
• Romanesque
• Gothic
• Renaissance
• Baroque

30. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
WILLIAM EMERSON THE MUIR COLLEGE
Allahabad 1873 – “Over a large hall which exudes a vague air of Venetian Gothic
there rises a dome which is Mughal in outline but Persian in decoration, and
beside it stands a minaret which appears to have been transposed from Mamluk
Egypt” ~ H R Tillotson
ImageSource:http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01216/24TH_ALLAHABD_VARS_1216948f.jpg[ONLINE]

31. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ROBERT FELLOWES CHISHOLM MADRAS UNIVERSITY SENATE HOUSE
Madras 1870s – “…some of the arches are of ogee form…while others are
voluptuous horseshow…as those of Moorish Spain” ~ H R Tillotson
ImageSource:http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01561/26MPSENATEHOUSE_1561603f.jpg[ONLINE]

32. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ROGER T SMITH ARCHITECTURAL ART IN INDIA
“As our administration exhibits European justice, order, law, energy,
and honour – and that in no hesitating or feeble way – so our buildings
ought to hold up a high standard of European art. They aught to be
European both as rallying points for ourselves, and as raising a distinctive
symbol of our presence to be beheld with respect and even with
admiration by the natives of the country”
~ Roger Smith (1873), Talk at Society of Arts

33. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
THE QUESTION OF STYLE

34. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
THE QUESTION OF STYLE
“We ought, like the Romans and the Mohammedans, to take our national
style with us….we shall be likely to succeed best if we are not too anxious to
incorporate much of the art or style of the country with our own”
~ Roger Smith
Emerson pointed out that, on contrary, Islamic architecture in India is notable
for its degree of adaptation to local conditions. That was the procedure which
he urged the British to Follow.

35. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ROBERT FELLOWES CHISHOLM ORIENTALISING THE RAJ
Chepauk Palace Madras 1871 ~ Chisholm (Governor of Mardras, Lord
Napier’s support)
ImageSource:http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01367/18MP-_Muthiah2_jpg_1367290g.jpg[ONLINE]

36. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
ROBERT FELLOWES CHISHOLM STYLE OF THE ERA
Napier Museum Trivandrum 1872
ImageSource:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Napier_Museum_%26_Art_Gallery,_Thiruvananthapuram,_Kerala,_I
ndia.JPG[ONLINE]

37. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
CHARLES MANT MAYO COLLEGE AJMER
Ajmer 1875-85
ImageSource:http://ajmer.nic.in/pics/mayoajm.jpg[ONLINE]

38. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
MANT & CHISHOLM LAXMI VILAS
Baroda 1878-90
ImageSource:http://travelrage.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/dsc00022.jpg[ONLINE]

39. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
HENRY IRWIN LAW COURTS
Madras 1888-92
ImageSourcehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/A_building_in_Chennai.JPG[ONLINE]

40. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
HENRY IRWIN ART GALLERY
Madras 1907
ImageSourcehttp://www.nithyacaars.com/chennai/images/National%20Art%20Gallery.jpg[ONLINE]

41. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
F W STEVENS VICTORIA TERMINUS
Bombay 1880s
ImageSourcehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Victoria_Terminus,_Mumbai.jpg/700px-
Victoria_Terminus,_Mumbai.jpg[ONLINE]

42. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
F W STEVENS VICTORIA TERMINUS
Bombay 1880s
ImageSourcehttp://www.the-south-asian.com/Jan-March2009/CST.2.jpg[ONLINE]

43. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
GEORGE WITTET PRINCE OF WHALES MUSEUM
Bombay 1905
ImageSourcehttp://www.placeforvacations.com/sudhir-content/uploads/2012/04/The-Prince-of-Wales-Museum-In-
Mumbai.jpg[ONLINE]

44. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
GEORGE WITTET GATEWAY OF INDIA
Bombay 1911

45. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
WILLIAM EMERSON VICTORIA MEMORIAL
Calcutta 1921 (Inaugurated )
ImageSourcehttp://travelindia123.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/victoria-memorial-4.jpg[ONLINE]

46. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
LUTYENS AND BAKER NEW DELHI
1914 - 31
ImageSourcehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-
6A7EJEWjtas/Tud9IHLaIeI/AAAAAAAAGF8/itKgmE2R2h0/s640/Rashtrapati+Bhavan.jpg[ONLINE]

47. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
LUTYENS AND BAKER NEW DELHI
1914 - 31
ImageSourcehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_aDHjCRcA8sY/TRTpl91RHrI/AAAAAAAAATY/AUI9-JwhIZY/s400/Pic+02+-
+Secretariat+4.JPG[ONLINE]

48. History of Architecture - II (AP-313) – Colonialism
REFERENCE
Ching, Francis D K, Jarzombek, Mark M and Prakash, Vikramaditya. 2011. A
Global History of Architecture. s.l. : John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN:
0470902485, 9780470902486.
London, Chrostopher W, [ed.]. 1994. Architecture in Victorian and Edwardian
India. Mumbai : Marg, 1994. ISBN: 81-85026-26-2.
Marshall, P. J. 2001. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire.
s.l. : Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0521002540, 9780521002547.