Unit 3: Professional Institutions 

related to Architecture 
Lecture 1: ​The institutionalization of Architecture in India 
before 1947 - Evolution from the medieval craft guilds to the 
formation and later evolution of IIA. 
 
Note for the student:​ The red colored text is my commentary, everything else is
borrowed. ​Also, the instances described below refer to the general region of what is
now known as the Indian Subcontinent. The PWD worked throughout the British
Indian empire, which includes present day Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar etc.

Summary
The idea behind this lecture is to illustrate the institutional frameworks in place
before 1947. The lecture starts with the description of building tradition in Shah
Jehan’s era, we see a system of craftsmen working together under a ‘master-builder’
who isn’t much more valued than the head mason. The involvement of different
workers involved in construction activity is equitable. We see the organisation of
ancient ‘craftsmen guilds’, and we see a developed tradition of institutions - ensuring
(i) exclusivity of membership, (ii) imposition of bye-laws and ‘professional code of
conduct’ for members, and we see (iii) strict punishments for members when rules
are broken (contrast this with the present system of functioning of the CoA, and note
that the general spirit of institutionalization has remained the same). With the
advent of British this institutional setup changed. We see the rise of British PWD
and it’s dominance in construction works. The craftsmen and artisans of earlier are
reduced to mere labor and run out of employment. A new system of formal
education is also part of this changed setup. We see in the two centuries prior to
1947, craftsmen slowly losing their way and the western system of Architecture
taking over (refer back to JJ College’s establishment year, it is an important part of
this institutional change). It can be argued that the advent and formation of IIA
formalizes the transition.
17th Century building tradition of India 

“The method followed by Shah Jahân in making his arrangements for the building of
the Tâj is fully described in the official records of the time, and is very interesting for
the light it throws upon the building tradition of the seventeenth century. The
Emperor called together a council of all the best master-builders and craftsmen to be
found in India and in Central and Western Asia. There were specialists in every
branch of building and decorative craft. There was a master-mason from Kandahar,
one Muhammad Hanif, with a salary of 1,000 rupees a month; another, Muhammad
Sayyid from Multan, who received 590 rupees, and Abu Torah from the same place
paid 500 rupees. Ismail Khan Rûmi, an expert in dome construction, also received
500 rupees. Two specialists for making the pinnacle surmounting the dome, whose
names were Muhammad Sharif of Samarkand and Kazim Khan of Lahore, were paid
respectively 500 rupees and 295 rupees a month...

Three master-masons from Delhi were paid from 400 to 375 rupees a month. A
master-carpenter, probably employed in the erection of the scaffolding and
centering of the dome, whose name was Pira, was also a citizen of Delhi. With regard
to the decorative work, there were four calligraphists who drew out the inlaid marble
inscriptions. The first, Amanat Khan, from Shirâz, a writer of the Tughra character,
drew a salary equal to the highest, namely, 1,000 rupees a month. Qader Zaman,
“proficient in every branch of Arabic,” drew 800 rupees. Muhammad Khan from
Baghdad was paid 500 rupees, and Raushan Khan from Syria received 300 rupees.
At the Mogul court, as in Persia and Arabia, calligraphists were artists of the highest
repute and were paid accordingly. The masons who executed the inlay work,
including the so-called pictra dura, which is distinctly Persian in character, were
Indians and Hindus who came from Kanauj. The chief worker, Chiranji Lai, received
one of the highest salaries, 800 rupees a sufficient proof that he was not a mere
artisan working under supervision, but a master-craftsman of high position among
Shah Jahân’s experts. His chief subordinates were Chhoti Lal, Mannu Lal, and
Manuhar Singh, whose salaries ranged from 380 rupees to 200…

Among other decorative craftsmen, two “flower carvers” from Bokhara, Ata
Muhammad and Shaker Muhammad, are mentioned as drawing salaries of 500 and
400 rupees respectively... Lastly, there was a specialist in garden design, one Ram
Lai Kashmiri.

The chief architect who co-ordinated the work of all these master-craftsmen was
Ustad Îsâ, “the best designer of his time.” His salary was 1,000 rupees it is
significant of his position towards the whole work that he received no more than the
chief mason, for he was only one among many master-craftsmen carrying on a great
living building tradition.

...These Oriental master-craftsmen were as keenly sensitive to new ideas as any

budding architect-draughtsman of the present day, for we are told that before the
final design was approved by Shah Jahân they had seen and discussed drawings of
all the most famous buildings of the world. When after long consultation the design
was settled, a model of it was made in wood…”

(Havell, Ernest Binfield. "Chapter II." In Indian Architecture, Its Psychology,

Structure, and History from the First Muhannadan Invasion to the Present Day,
14-38. London: John Murray, 1913 .. ​https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-167086​ )
Guild system of ancient India 

“INDIAN society presents to us no more fascinating picture than that of the

craftsman as an organic element in the national life. Broadly speaking, he is
associated with that life in one of three ways: as a member of a village community; as
a member of a guild of merchant craftsmen in a great city; or as the feudal servant of
the king, or chieftain of a temple.”

“... the artisans have constantly terminated their connection with a village, or have
had to provide for sons in some other place, and they at once sought their livelihood
in the towns which began to spring up everywhere round the centres of government,
and of the foreign commerce of the country. It is in this way that the great
polytechnical cities of India have been formed...

Community of interests would naturally draw together the skilled immigrants of

these cities in trades unions; the bonds of which in India, as was also the case in
ancient Egypt, are rendered practically indissoluble by the force of caste ... The trade
guilds of the great polytechnical cities of India are not, however, always exactly
coincident with the sectarian or ethnical caste of a particular caste of artisans.
Sometimes the same trade is pursued by men of different castes, and its guild
generally includes every member of the trade it represents without strict reference to
caste. The government of the guilds or unions is analogous to that of the village
communities and castes, that is, by hereditary officers. Each separate guild is
managed by a court of aldermen or mahajans, literally ‘great gentlemen.’..

Membership in the guild is also hereditary, but new-comers may be admitted into it
on the payment of an entrance fee... No unqualified person can remain in or enter a
guild. It is not the practice to execute indentures of apprenticeship, but every boy
born in a working caste of necessity learns his father’s handicraft, and when he has
mastered it, at once takes his place as an hereditary freeman of his caste or
trade-guild… In large cities the guilds command great influence. The Nagar-Seth, or
City Lord of Ahmedabad, is the titular head of all the guilds, and the highest
personage in the city, and is treated as its representative by the Government…

The guilds likewise regulated the hours of labour, and the amount of work to be done
in their workshops, by strict bye-laws, enforced by the levy of fines… Thus the guild
both prevented undue competition amongst its members, and negotiated with other
guilds in case of dispute amongst the craftsmen.
In 1873, for example, a number of the bricklayers in Ahmedabad could not find
work. Men of this class sometimes added to their daily wages by rising very early in
the morning, and working overtime. But when several families complained that they
could not get employment, the bricklayers’ guild met, and decided that as there was
not enough work for all, no member should be allowed to work in extra hours. … The
trade-guild or caste allows none of its members to starve.

How long ago the craftsmen were organized into these great municipal guilds, is
suggested by a well-known passage in the Rāmāyana, describing the procession of
citizens who went out into the forest with Bharata in search of Rāma. The
gemcutters, potters, weavers, armourers, ivoryworkers, “well-known goldsmiths,”
together with many others, the foremost merchants as well as the citizens of all
classes went out to search for Rāma.

The origin of the guild has not yet been worked out in any detail. With regard to the
existence of actual guilds in early Buddhist times, the Jātakas give us but little
information... In slightly later literature the existence of guilds is more clearly
indicated. In the Dharma sutras it is stated that the farmers, merchants, cowherds
and money-lenders had bye-laws of their own. applicable to their communities, and
having due legal validity. In later law books, guilds (sreni) are often mentioned, e.g.,
Manu, viii. 41, where it is stated that the king must examine and establish the laws of
the guilds. Likewise in the epics, the guilds are recognised as an important factor in
industrial and political life.”

“It was one of the most important functions of the guild in India, as in Europe, to
maintain the Standard of quality, both of material and design...

In the time of Chandragupta (3rd cent. B.C.) there were six Municipal Boards in
Patāliputra, of which the first was entrusted with the superintendence of everything
relating to the industrial arts: fixing the rate of wages, and enforcing the use of pure
and sound materials, as well as the performance of a fair day’s work for fair wages...

A reference to guilds and regulations is found in the Āīn-i-Akbari, or Institutes of

Akbar (sixteenth century), in the chapter dealing with the duties of the Kotwal, or
City Officer.

“Out of each class of artificers he shall select one to be at their head, and appoint
another their broker for buying and selling, and regulate the business of the class by
their reports; and they shall regularly furnish him with journals attested by their
respective seals. ... “

(Coomaraswamy, Ananda K.. "VI.—Education." In The Indian Craftsman, 83-96.

Probsthain's Oriental Series. London: Probsthain & Co., 1909.
https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-167473​ )
Building tradition in Imperial India 

Precursor to the introduction of PWD here. In the Mughal era and eras before,
royalty were the greatest patrons behind construction activities of institutional
nature (fun exercise, look up the contribution of Mughal India as percentage share of
world GDP, and tell me why did Indian art ‘peak’ in the Mughal era). This role was
taken over by the PWD with the advent of british.

“Public Works in India fall naturally into three classes, Buildings and Roads,
Irrigation, and Railways. Military, as distinct from Civil, buildings make a fourth
class, when separately administered as they are now​ (early 1900s!).​ The
organization of the three main branches originated separately and at different times.
A Military Board in each of the three Presidencies was the first recognized authority
for works of the first class, which in those days were all of a military character,
comprising barracks and other buildings for troops, and the few military roads that
had been commenced prior to 1850.

The staff of engineers was at this time (​in 1850) ​drawn from many sources. The
Engineer corps of the three Presidencies supplied the nucleus, and a few more came
from the Company's Artillery; some were recruited from the line regiments of the
Company's service, and a few officers of Royal regiments in India were employed
with permission of the British Government. Lastly, a considerable number of
civilians had been engaged in England and in India, and steps had been taken
to increase the supply from both sources. The Thomason College at Roorkee (estbd.
in 1847​.. Present day IIT Roorkee)​, was beginning to supply engineers and
subordinates in fair numbers, and a class for training officers of the British and
Indian armies had been opened there.

By 1900, the Public Works Department, which, as the successor of the Military
Board, was in its inception mainly military, became a purely civil organization,
dealing with only a few military cantonments in outlying localities too small to
constitute a military unit. At the same time a military organization controls almost
all military buildings, such as fortifications and barracks, throughout the country,
and some frontier roads.

During the early days of the Public Works Department the Engineer establishment
was recruited in a haphazard and miscellaneous way. In 1870 about two-fifths of its
strength was made up of Royal Engineers, while the rest consisted, in proportions
roughly equal, of men recruited in India, largely through the Indian Engineering
Colleges, and of engineers procured in England under covenant...

The 'Provincial' Engineers, so called to distinguish them from the Imperial Service,
i.e. the Royal Engineers, are natives of India... (including in this term domiciled
Europeans and Eurasians) recruited from the Indian Engineering Colleges by the
grant of a limited number of guaranteed appointments to the most distinguished
students of each year, and men promoted from the upper subordinate ranks
(Subordinate Engineers and Supervisors). Its members perform the same duties,
and can rise to the same positions, as their 'Imperial' conferres, but draw a lower
rate of pay in all grades except that of Chief Engineer, in view of their permanent
Indian connexion. Men of this class who entered the superior service before the
organization of 1892 came into operation draw the same rate as men of the Imperial
Service, but are under inferior leave and pension rules. The subordinate ranks of the
Military Works Service are similarly recruited, but here the appointments are
reserved mainly for the military element obtained through Roorkee.”

(The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Vol. 04, Published in 1931,

https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/​ )

“INDIA still possesses a large body of trained craftsmen who practise the art of
building on similar principles and produce similar results to those of the great
mediæval builders of Europe…

… A certain number of young men with no training either in art or in craft, learn by
heart certain formularies for calculating the maximum weight which an iron girder
will bear, the smallest dimensions to which a wall can be reduced without collapsing,
the cheapest rate at which a building can be constructed so as to bring it within the
annual departmental budget. When a department has settled on paper the plan of
the building it wants, one of these engineers with an archaeological turn of mind
puts on to it a “Gothic” or “Classic”front, according to departmental taste, and
provides a certain scale of departmental decoration according to departmental rank
and dignity. Then the hereditary Indian craftsman whose family has practised the art
of building for untold centuries is brought in to learn the wisdom of the West by
copying the departmental paper patterns... To build one of the latest and perhaps the
best of these archæological structures in Calcutta, a large number of Indian
caste-builders were employed. Many of them were both artists and craftsmen they
could design, build, and carve. The structural design had been settled for them
departmentally, so they had no concern with that. There was also a considerable
amount of ornament to be carved, but that also had been designed for them in
proper departmental style, which happened to be Italian Renaissance, so they were
not allowed to attempt that. Other men who had been trained in the European
archæological style in Bombay were brought over to copy mechanically the paper
patterns prepared for them. These men were paid two rupees a day each… The
average earning of these men is four annas a day, or one-eighth of the wages paid for
executing the departmental decoration. They and their fellow-artists all over India
are constantly in want of work, for departmentalism has no need of their services.
Indian art cries out for bread; we give it museums, exhibitions, and archæology.”

(Havell, Ernest Binfield. "APPENDIX V.—E. B. Havell on the Official Suppression of

Indian Craftsmanship at the Present Day." In The Indian Craftsman, 109-111.
Probsthain's Oriental Series. London: Probsthain & Co., 1909.
https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-167497​ )
‘Architects’ of India in 20th Century 

(​The text below is taken from:

M.J.P. Mistri: Descendant of Master Builders – Excerpts from an interview with
Smita Gupta." In Vistāra - The Architecture of India, Catalogue of the Exhibition,
edited by Smita Gupta and Carmen Kagal, 222-226. The Festival of India, 1986.
https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-166225

MJP Mistri is an architect, son of Jamshetji Mistri who was a trained civil engineer
but effectively an architect in the early 20th Century of India. The text below is to
give you an indication of building tradition in first half of 20th Century India​)

“My family has been engaged in the building profession for at least five generations,
originally in Navsari. Before the advent of academic courses, people were trained as
apprentices, with skills passing down from father to son. A certain amount of
practical training went with their upbringing, particularly in carpentry...

In those days, building work was undertaken by mistris, in the capacity of both
architect and building contractor. This was a practical proposition because the
general line of building was of a simple nature. The style and character of
architecture in old Gujarat was moulded by the use of local materials, requirements
and the building techniques available. Almost all the work in Navsari was in wood in
those days, right down to the embellishments – all those marvellous doorways, for
instance. There was no concrete or cement but stone was used for spanning things
and for floors, though not very much...

My ancestor moved to Bombay in the 18th Century. In a growing city, there was
more and more demand for builders and he and his two sons did not find it too hard
to make their way. At that time, it was possible to tender for big governmental jobs,
even if they had been designed by someone else – military engineers, for instance...

My father was born around 1860. After taking a degree in civil engineering from
Poona, he was offered a government job – highly prized in those days – but he
declined it because of a strong urge to practise. He set up his own firm a little over
100 years ago. Though he was a civil engineer by training, he was an architect by
predilection. He soon established himself in a preeminent position in the profession,
often siding with architects rather than civil engineers on professional issues. His
advice was frequently sought by office bodies, individuals and even members of his
own profession. He served on many committees, particularly those relating to
Bombay and its development.

In the course of his extensive practice, he built hundreds of buildings all over the
country. His speciality was the building of textile mills in India and Ceylon, probably
because the birth and the phenomenal growth of this industry coincided with the
heyday of his career.”

A quick remark here. LM Chitale, (behind the 1963 case covered earlier), was a RIBA
fellow (hence a ​chartered​ architect). Here’s a link if you want to read a little more..
http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2023%20No%2022/designing-landmarks-pre-ind
ependence.html
The IIA 

Find below, portions of IIA’s text on their history, taken from their website​ (
https://indianinstituteofarchitects.com/history/​ )

“​The Architectural Student’s Association (1917-22)

On May – 12th, 1917, the first meeting was held.. At the first meeting held, the
members present decided to form themselves into an association of the past
students of Architecture of Sir J.J. School of Art and it was decided to christen the
infant “The Architectural Students Association”. Late Mr. George Wittet, the then
Consulting Architect to the Government of Bombay, was unanimously elected as the
first “President” of the Association.

The Bombay Architectural Association (1922-29)

Mr. Batley was elected President in 1921.. in 3rd ordinary meeting of the members
on 3rd August 1922, Mr. Batley, President, announced the formal inauguration of
the rechristened Association.

Affiliation To The Royal Institute Of British Architects (1925)

As far back as the beginning in 1922, there had been tentative visions of affiliation
with The Royal Institute of British Architects. On a requisition made by 15 members,
a special General Meeting was called on 20th November 1924 in which Prof. Claude
Bately moved the resolution of getting the final examination of RIBA to be held in
India. The alliance was formally confirmed at a Special General Meeting held in the
School of Architecture on the 14th May 1925. The first examination could be held
only in 1930. The five year Diploma Course inaugurated in 1923, was recognised for
exemption from the intermediate examination.

The Indian Institute Of Architects (1929)

Affiliation with R.I.B.A. in 1925 led to consideration of further changes in the
existing Constitution and Bye-Laws. One of the first was that members of the
R.I.B.A. in the Bombay Presidency and throughout India were now coming into the
fold of the Association. It was on 2nd September 1929 that the new body was
re-organised in Bombay and officially registered as “THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF
ARCHITECTS”. Its chief objects, among others, as stated in the Memorandum of
Association were;

“To continue the work of the Bombay Architectural Association founded as the
Architectural Student’s Association in 1917” and
“To encourage the study of Architecture, to elevate the standard of Architectural
Practice and by mutual support, to promote the interests of Architects throughout
India”.

In 1929, the membership was 158. Today it has crossed the 20,000 mark. The Indian
Institute of Architects is registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860
as a voluntary organisation of Architects.”

Claude Batley is an important figure in the discourse. You might have heard his
mention while reading about the Indian Room. He serves as the principal of JJ
School for some time, and is considered to be the main proponent behind revivalism
in Bombay or what is popularly known as “Art Deco” (See
https://tekton.mes.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/04-paper-mustansir.pdf​ if
you would like to read more into it).