Exploring Dalhousie Square, Kolkata

Dalhousie Square is surrounded by historic Raj era architecture and contains the Lal Dighi . The space was originally named after James, Marquess of Dalhousie who served as the Governor-General of India from 1847 to 1856.

To explore this historical area, a walk was organised as part of World heritage week.

The walk began from the iconic Great Eastern Hotel .

The British brought modern hotels to Kolkata. The Oldest was John Spence’s Hotel. Spence’s, the first ever hotel in Asia was opened to the public in 1830.

The hotel was introduced to cater to the growing number of visitors coming to Calcutta from Britain and other parts of Europe and India. As the Government encroached on
office buildings around the area, the Spence’s Hotel was shifted from its original location at the crossing of Esplanade Row (West) and Government Place (West) to Wellesley Place.

It stood where the Treasury building or A.G. Bengal stands today. The massive building, extensively ornamented, occupying an entire city block, was originally meant to accommodate the Financial Department of the Government of India. It is presently home to the Principal Accountant General (audit & accounts), Government of West Bengal.

The Great Eastern Hotel was established in 1840 or 1841 by David Wilson as the Auckland Hotel. It became the Great Eastern Hotel in 1915.It was also among the first to have an Indian on its board of directors, in 1859.

In 1883 the premises of the hotel were electrified, becoming the first hotel in Indi to be illuminated by electricity.During the British period the Hotel who was known as the “Jewel of the East”

The hotel has housed many famous personalities including Nikita Khrushchev,Nikolai Bulganin, Elizabeth II, Mark Twain,Ho Chi Minh.

Besides the Great Eastern Hotel, once stood Peliti’s Confectionery.

I tumbled off my horse and dashed, half fainting,
into Peliti’s for a glass of cherry brandy.
There two or three couples were gathered round
the coffee-tables discussing the gossip of the day…

Rudyard Kipling

Peliti was a Manufacturing Confectioner and he was by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen Empress, a purveyor of cakes, chocolates etc. He started his restaurant and confectionery business in 1870 at 11 Government Place in the Dalhousie Square area of Calcutta.

The Rotary Club in India started at this restaurant.On September 26th 1919, the first meeting of Rotary Club of Calcutta was held at Peliti’s Restaurant with a membership of twenty. The club was granted its Charter on January 1, 1920.It was the first Rotary club in this part of the world, there being only two others in Asia, viz. Manila and Shanghai, both organised in 1919, a few months prior to Calcutta.

Regular weekly meetings of the club continued to be held at Pelitis.

The Pelitis’ was famous for their three course lunch which could be had very quickly at Rs 1.50. The price remained static from 1917 till about 1924.

Angelo Firpo was a pupil of Federico Peliti. Firpo opened his restaurant on Chowringhee near the famous hotel (The Oberoi Grand) after the 1st World War. The culture in Firpo’s restaurant was more in common with Peliti’s than others and was upper class, not in just terms of money, but in attitude. Firpo’s restaurant closed its doors in the 1960s

The Peliti’s did a lot of outside catering and the variety of their cakes was well known. A great masterpiece of Peliti was a 12′ high replica of the Eiffel Tower in sugar, crafted by the great man himself in December 1889.

Peliti’s restaurant closed down after Independence.

The next stop was the BSNL Building.Here once stood the Dalhousie Institute. The Dalhousie Institute was originally constructed as a Monumental Hall to accommodate busts and statues of great men associated with the history of British India, as well as to provide a resort for mental improvement and social intercourse for all classes.

The large hall is to be used as a concert and public-meeting room, and could accommodate 1,000 persons seated. On either side of it were lecture-rooms, lavatories, and an extensive library.

During World War II, the Institute was requisitioned for the use of US troops and, in 1948, it was shifted from Dalhousie Square to its present location at 42 Jhowtalla Street. . The Institute was not a social club in its early years no drinks were served and no ladies were admitted as members till 1887.It was demolished in 1950.

One of the most beautiful architecture of the British age in India was built in 1896 lies in front of the BSNL office. Mumbai based architect Fredrick W. Stevens who designed the Victoria Terminus station at Mumbai and Mumbai Municipal Corporation Building, designed the building.

Standard Life was not the first insurance company in Britain, but it was among the earliest.

Initially called the Insurance Company of Scotland, the firm was founded in Edinburgh in 1825. During the 19th century it opened offices in far-flung parts of the Empire, including Canada and India, Shanghai and Uruguay.

At that time when most British insurance companies were reluctant to allow policy holders to travel let alone live in the colonies, due to the high mortality rate.

Standard Life pioneered insurance for British subjects abroad. In 1846 the establishment of the Colonial Life Assurance Company was specifically designed to handle business in the British Colonies and India, and could offer attractive terms based on the Colonial’s more accurate assessment of mortality risk in the countries concerned.

Standard Life’s business grew and it merged with Colonial in 1871.

The building is an imposing one.

The entrance at the north is through an arched gateway with a triangular pediment at the top. The building features the logo of the standard life’s which is based on the biblical parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1- 13)

The parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13,) being deemed to be an appropriate motif for an insurance company with the message of always being prepared for future contingencies.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins, also known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins or the Parable of the ten bridesmaids. According to the story, the five virgins who are prepared for the bridegroom’s arrival are rewarded, while the five who are not prepared are disowned. It was one of the most popular parables in the Middle Ages, with enormous influence on Gothic art, sculpture and the architecture of German and French cathedrals.

Immediately below the archway are figures of ‘Life’ (represented by a young woman carrying the Light of Life) on the left and ‘Death’ to the left (represented by the Grim Reaper , a Western depiction of Death as a skeleton wielding a scythe)

Telecommunications services began in India in 1851 when a telegraph service became operational between Calcutta, and Diamond Harbor.

The Telegraph Office complex and is more commonly known as the ‘Dead Letter Office’. It serves as the central sorting office for incoming mail to Kolkata. But when the postal address is incorrect, or the addressee cannot be located or is deceased and when the letter cannot not be returned to the sender due to the absence of the sender’s address, the letter stays in this wonderful Italianate corner building with a 120 feet campanile tower in it’s North – Eastern corner. Supposedly it was designed as a Italian clock tower, but it never came to contain a clock.

The Currency building was built in the year 1833 with Italian style. This beautiful building was originally known as Agra Bank and Office of issue and Exchange of Government Currency later on. Until new larger mint was setup in Taratala (Near Majerhat Bridge) Kolkata, until then the currency of British India counted/Sorted in this building

Several security-proof storerooms were built to hold currency, The presence of thick iron sheets covering not just the walls, but also the floors and even the roof of such rooms proves they were more or less strong rooms and not just ordinary rooms. What makes the building attractive are the features like the heavy cast iron gates, large brick arches and Venetian windows with intricate designs. The roof is arched with iron joists and the floor is covered with marble and chunar sandstone.Once it was housed as the Reserve Bank of India till 1937.

St Andrew’s Church also known as the Kirk is the first Scottish church in Kolkata

The British East India “trading” Company was slowly expanding its influence over the subcontinent under competition from French, Dutch and Portuguese companies looking for their place in the spotlight – such were the conditions when the Scottish Minister Reverend James Bryce decided that the city needed an inspiring church for its Scottish population. Since the union of Scotland with England in 1707, Scots formed a large fraction of those coming to the subcontinent to eke out a living in the rapidly-expanding colonial trade and politicized administration of the controlled territories; they worked here as soldiers and mercenaries in service of both the Company and the local kings, doctors and surgeons, jute mill owners and captains, plantation owners and traders, missionaries and industrialists.

It is inspired by St. Martin-in-the-Fields of London,it was designed by M/s Burn, Currie & Co.

A fisherman by profession, St. Andrew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and is considered the patron saint of Scotland among several other countries.Legend says that during a battle in which they were vastly outnumbered, the Scottish king Oengus II prayed to St. Andrew that if he won the battle he will declare St. Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. The morning of the battle, the clouds formed an ‘X’ shape in the sky (‘X’ being the symbol of St. Andrew since he was crucified on an X-shaped crucifix) and the Scots were victorious. Since then the Scottish flag (and consequently the Union Flag) bears a white ‘X’ against a blue background.

St Andrew’s Church was built just at the site of Old Court House which was demolished in 1792. The street just in front of the St Andrew’s Church is known as the Old Court House Street.

It’s steeple was higher than that of the then Anglican Cathedral of Calcutta St. John’s Church

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Wtiters Building is a red Neo-Renaissance style of architecture, with French accents, such as the mansard roofs and is the seat of power for present day West Bengal.

Writers’ Building has a rich history. In the year 1776, Thomas Lyon was granted the site of the demolished St Anne’s church along with the adjoining area to erect buildings for providing accommodations to the junior writers of the East India Company. Lyon was assigned on behalf of Richard Barwell, member of the Council, when Warren Hastings was Governor.

Writers’ Building is reckoned as the first three-storied building of Calcutta. However, at that time Writers’ appeared like a “shabby hospital or poorhouse”. Barwell leased out this range of buildings to the Company to provide accommodation to the writers.

In 1800, to accommodate the Fort William College and the Government Engineering College within its premises, a 128ft long veranda was added. This was supported on majestic columns that were constructed and added to the first and second floors of the building, along with new teaching rooms, an exam hall, a library and a hostel accommodation for thirty two students.

When the British Raj took over, a French Renaissance-styled makeover was given to the building, to make it more ornate and almost palatial in terms of its architecture. Eventually, 15 new interconnected blocks were added, along with an iron staircase.

Out of the several statues that glorify the look and feel of the building, the most notable are the four clusters of Greek Gods that are termed as Justice, Commerce, Science and Agriculture. Each of these clusters has an Indian and European practitioner, on either side of the Greek God.

The statue of Minerva occupies the central position.

General Post Office (GPO was built in 1864 the majestic building was designed by Walter B. Grenvile. Built at the sight of the old Fort William the stairs on the Eastern end of the building still contains the almost invisible brass plate marking the boundary of the old fort. The old Fort William was destroyed by Shiraj – ud – Daulah in 1756.The GPO also has further gory history associated with it – it is built at the site of Fort William, the British outpost at Calcutta, that was the site of the “Black Hole Tragedy” of 1756 AD – an event where it is alleged several British men & women were imprisoned in a small dungeon by then Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, leading to several deaths by asphyxiation & panic.

The majestic building has two wings supported by Ionic – Corinthian pillars and is crowned with a towering dome.

The place where GPO there is a small place which was once an open garbage dump, only demarcated by two half buried cannons is where once the famous Black Hole of Kolkata once stood.

Royal Insurance was founded in1845, and the foundation stone of their graceful building in Calcutta was laid by Lord Carmichael in1916.The architects were Edward Thornton and William Banks Gwyther and the building was raised by JC Banerjee, who had built the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building, situated in the south-west corner of Tank Square. PWD architect William Banks Gwyther, one of the two architects, was behind the construction of many other massive buildings of Calcutta, like the clock tower of Calcutta Port, the Military Secretariat Building on Esplanade Row (East), and the headquarters of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. It took Rs. 50000 to construct the building, which was completed in 1918.

Hong Kong House-HSBC was founded after the second Opium War, by which time the trade was already well established. The founders included several opium traders who recognized the profitable banking opportunities presented by the new market. Opium — sourced initially from India — was by far and away the largest product traded by British merchants in return for Chinese silks, tea and porcelain.

The site that Hong Kong House currently occupies was formerly in the possession of Mackenzie Lyall & Co.

Mackenzie Lyall and Co. were leading Calcutta auctioneers. In Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century, by Montague Massey, they are listed as the sole opium merchants for the East India Company and it seems that their premises were first inside the Fort William, in the original site for the Fort William College and later they were shifted to Dalhousie Square where the present Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank stands.

It was built by Martin & Co. at the astronomical cost of Rs. 12,00,000 in 1922.The building appears safe, secure, conservative with the Edwardian and neo-Georgian façade. The building was designed by Palmer & Turner who also designed the bank’s Shanghai Bund branch (1926) and the main branch in Hong Kong (1935) both of which are predated by Calcutta.

Next to HSBC bank stands the RBI building.

Reserve Bank of India building in this street which was earlier Alliance Bank of Simla. Reserve Bank shifted to the larger building in Dalhousie Square when this office became too small for its operations.

Here we ended our walk.