“INDO-EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE

IN INDIA”
Simran Bisht|Sumiran Maheshwari|Varun Rana
 INDIAN AND EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURAL
HERITAGE
● Indo-European Architectural heritage was the amalgamation of the styles of the
European countries, like Portugal (Portuguese), Holland (Dutch), France (French) and
finally culminating in the colonial occupation by the British.
● The European constructed, forts, churches, town hall, clock towers, market
complexes, and gateway etc.
● The Architecture of the Imperial Portuguese marked by Churches and Cathedral
reflecting the post-Renaissance European architecture. There are examples of old
mansions, remains of fortifications and defences, dating mainly from 18th century
A.D.
● The Portuguese architecture was very much influenced by contemporary
developments in Europe at that time. The Churches of Goa are also the fusion of
Renaissance Principles and aesthetics to suit local colonial tastes, monetary resources
and raw materials.
● The buildings built by the British were not as elegant and grand as that of the
Mughals, but were civic and utilitarian buildings and commemorative structures.
● The contributions made by the British led to the creation of a composite architectural
style imbibing European, Indian and Mughal elements and was also called the
colonial architecture.
● These imposing buildings including Palaces, mansions, clubhouses, and government
official buildings, represented a hybrid of western and eastern sensibilities as their
architect sought to plant the flag of British dominance in a foreign culture.
● The new princely cities like Jaipur, Bikaner and Mysore, they are also influenced by
Indo-European architecture. The towns were patterned along British example has
Clock towers, railway stations, public official buildings, assembly halls and public
hospitals etc.
 Indo-European Architecture influence in Kolkata
● Calcutta had a grandeur and character which gave it the status for a time, of being the
second city of the British Empire after London.
● In its heyday it was called the city of palaces, and it still retains a fine heritage of 18
and 19 century buildings, often in a bad state of repair.
● In Calcutta, many fine Palladian style houses, with their columned verandahs, flat
balustrade roofs and large gardens are founded.
● Bungalow housing design had also a number of specific elements, such as the
verandahs, the chajja, compound and one-storied houses, all of which evolved in the
Bengal climate.
● The bungalow design became a model for British colonial housing not only in India,
but other British colonial countries as well.
Indo-European architecture
in Kolkata
 Town Hall
● Built in 1813 to provide a place for
Calcutta’s European community to
gather for social events.
● Made in Roman Doric style, the building
was used for judicial purpose in the latter
half of the 19th century, while the
Calcutta High Court was under
construction.
● In addition to a museum, the town hall
also houses a reference library, with over
12,000 books and journals, including
some very rare editions.
 Victoria Memorial
● This beautiful monument, one of Kolkata’s
best known, was built between 1906 and
1921 in memory of Queen Victoria,
following her death in 1901.
● Planned by British architect William
Emerson, the building is constructed of
white marble sourced from Rajasthan and
combines Indian and British styles of
design.
● Architectural influences from around the
globe, including Egyptian, Venetian,
Mughal, and Deccani elements.
 St. Paul’s Cathedral
● Built in 1847, this is said to be the
largest cathedral in India’s City of Joy.

● Featuring gothic architecture and

stained-glass windows, the
pristine-white cathedral was built to
tend to Calcutta’s growing European
community in the early-19th century.
 Culcutta High Court
● The oldest High Court in India, this
establishment was set up in 1862 –
although the neo-gothic building it’s
housed in wasn’t constructed until 10
years later.
● Designed by British architect Walter
Granville, the structure is said to be
modeled on the Cloth Hall in Ypres,
Belgium.
 Belvedere Estate
● Home to the National Library Of India,
the largest library in the country by
volume.
● The Belvedere Estate is believed to
have been constructed in the mid-18th
century.
● Belvedere House is thought to have
been built by Mir Jafar Ali Khan, the
Nawab (ruler) of Bengal during the
1760s, who then transferred it to the
British East India Company.
INDO-EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE IN
“MUMBAI”
 ARCHITECTURE OF “BOMBAY”
European builders in India tried their best to combine elements and features from Indian and Western
architecture British architects worked with Indian craftsmen to include Indian architectural tradition and
idioms thus forging a new style unique to Bombay.

● G. Wittet designed the Gateway of India in Mumbai, borrowing several elements of Mughal style.
● The Victoria Terminus Station (now known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji station), in Mumbai, is an
example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture deriving from Indian traditional architecture and
became the symbol of Bombay as the ‘Gothic City’
● The Indo-Saracenic Revival (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindu-
Gothic) was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British
India.
 COLONIAL BOMBAY

Mumbai's rich architectural heritage owes a lot to the British, when Bombay was gifted to
Britain as part of the wedding dowry from Catherine of Portugal to King Charles II.

● Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) This is the building that houses a
Victorian fantasy of Gothic arches, Mughal domes,made by Frederick William Stevens.
● The columns supporting the entrance hall are covered in a tracery of vines, cobras,
monkeys, parrots and other tropical wildlife.
The Indo-Saracenic style can be found nearby on the edge of the Oval Maidan, where

❖ The Bombay High Court and University of Mumbai – designed by George Gilbert
Scott
❖ The mosque-like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai's top
history museum, with its splendid collection of miniature paintings, ceramics, statuary
and antique weapons.
 St Thomas' Cathedral

● St Thomas' Cathedral, founded in 1672, that transferred Bombay to

Great Britain.
● The interior is full of grandiose marble memorials of the heroes of the
empire.
 ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

● Royal Opera House on Charni Road, inland from Girgaum Chowpatty beach, looks
like a piece of London's Theatreland that is literally moved brick by brick to Mumbai.
● It was built in classic Neo-Baroque style, the venue staged its first opera in 1916,
but interest declined after Independence
● The opera house was converted into a cinema, closing completely for 23 years before a
grand restoration in 2016.
 TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL

● Balconies and domes, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel constructed by the Parsi
industrialist Jamsetji Tata, founder of the vast Tata empire, after he was
refused entry to the city's British-run hotels for being 'a native'.
● An Indian icon while the British-owned hotels faded into obscurity.
 DECO MUMBAI

● The grand ‘Art Deco’ cinema halls that sprang up in the interwar years to showcase
the output of the fledgling Bollywood movie industry.
● Mumbai already had strong links to film – the Lumiere Brothers screened the first
movie shown in India at Watson's Hotel on Mahatma Gandhi Rd in 1896,
with a ticket price of Re 1.
● The rise of home entertainment and the modern multiplex hyped in a period of slow
decline for the city's Deco cinemas.
● On the corner of Marashi Karve Road and Veer Nariman Road for Bollywood release
of Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Aamir Khan.
● In the 1930S and 40s, the Liberty Cinema on Marine Lines, the Aurora Talkies at
Matunga, and the Los Angeles-style Regal.
 Art Deco Heritage of Mumbai

● Art Deco on Marine Drive is the Taraporevala Aquarium, constructed in 1951

behind a cinema-style decorated with reliefs of jellyfish, sea horses and
cetaceans.
● The Art Deco heritage of Mumbai, a ground project aimed at recording
and preserving the city's architectural legacy for future generations, founded
by financier and Deco-enthusiast Atul Kumar.
INDO-EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE
IN “ DELHI ”
Indo-European or Indo-Saracenic, also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, and,
formerly, Hindoo Style, was a revival architectural style mostly used by British architects
in India in the late 19th century, especially in public and government buildings in the
British Raj, and the palaces of rulers of the princely states. It drew stylistic and decorative
elements from native Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Mughal architecture, which the
British regarded as the classic Indian style, and less often, Hindu temple architecture. The
basic layout and structure of the buildings tended to be close to that used in contemporary
buildings in other styles, such as Gothic revival and Neo-Classical, with specific Indian
features and decoration added. Saracen is a term used in Europe until the 19th century
referring to Muslim and/or Arabic-speaking people and regions of the Middle East and
North Africa.
 India Gate
Why was it Built : Memorial to Undivided Indian Army
soldiers who died during World War I

● All India War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin

Lutyens, he designed sixty-six war memorials in
Europe, including the Cenotaph, in London, in 1919.
● Situated at the centre of a hexagonal complex with a
diameter of 625m and a total area of 360,000 m2, the
India Gate is 42m in height and 9.1m in width.
● Red and yellow sandstones sourced from Bharatpur.
● The structure stands on a low base and rises in
asymmetrical steps crowned with a shallow dome at the
top. There is also a vacant canopy in front of the
monument under which once stood the statue of George
V in his coronation robes, Imperial State Crown, British
globus cruciger and scepter. The statue was later shifted
to Coronation Park in 1960 and the empty canopy
symbolizes the British retreat from India.
Supreme Court of India
● The building is shaped to symbolize scales of justice with its centre-beam being the Central
Wing of the building comprising the chief justice's court, the largest of the courtrooms, with two
court halls on either side. The Right Wing of the structure has the bar – room, the offices of the
Attorney General of India and other law officers and the library of the court. The Left Wing has
the offices of the court. In all, there are 15 courtrooms in the various wings of the building.

● The foundation stone of the supreme court's building was laid on 29 October 1954 by Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India.

● The main block of the building has been built on a triangular plot of 17 acres and has been
designed in an Indo-British style by the chief architect Ganesh Bhikaji Deolalikar, the first
Indian to head the Central Public Works Department. It has a 27.6 m (90 ft 7 in) high dome and a
spacious colonnaded verandah. The court moved into the building in 1958. In 1979, two new
wings – the East Wing and the West Wing – were added to the complex. 1994 saw the last
extension.
Parliament House
● The parliament is one of the most
magnificent buildings in New Delhi. It was
designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert
Baker, who were responsible for planning
and construction of New Delhi.

● The construction of buildings took six years

and the opening ceremony was performed on
18 January 1927 by the then
Governor-General of India, Lord Irwin. The
construction costs for the building were Rs.
8.3 million. The parliament is 570 feet (170
meters) in diameter. It covers an area of
nearly six acres. The building has twelve
gates among which Gate No. 1 on the Sansad
Marg is the main gate.
Rashtrapati Bhawan
● Built in classical blend of royal Mughal and European architecture, Rashtrapati Bhavan is the
official residence of the President of India. Spanning across a whopping 320 acres in the
country's capital city, New Delhi, the structure is magnificent in every way.
● The Rashtrapati Bhavan architecture is credited to the British architect, Edwin Landseer
Lutyens whose designs are noted for imparting a classical and grand European style with
influences of Indian motifs and details interspersed in his structures. In fact, the area surrounding
the Rashtrapati Bhavan is referred to as Lutyens Delhi as he is responsible for planning it.The
Rashtrapati Bhavan architecture is credited to the British architect, Edwin Landseer Lutyens
whose designs are noted for imparting a classical and grand European style with influences of
Indian motifs and details interspersed in his structures. In fact, the area surrounding the
Rashtrapati Bhavan is referred to as Lutyens Delhi as he is responsible for planning it.
● One of the grand attractions at Rashtrapati Bhavan is the Mughal Gardens. Open to the general
public in February every year, along with colourful flowers, the gardens boast of Mughal and
English landscaping styles. The garden also has several lotus shaped water fountains spewing
jets up to 12 feet.
Teen Murti Bhavan
● In 1911 the decision was made to transfer the
winter capital of British India from Calcutta
to Delhi .The slow, decades-long process of
constructing the imperial complex in New
Delhi commenced shortly thereafter.
● Inaugurated as 'Flagstaff House' in 1930, the
building was the winter headquarters and
residence of the Commander-in-Chief of
Forces in India who maintained unified
command of the Indian Army, British Army,
and princely states forces.
● After independence, the house became the
year-round official residence and workspace
of the Prime Minister.
 Connaught Place
● Connaught Place formulated as the Central
Business District for the Imperial
Government, is now one of the largest and
most prosperous financial, business and
commercial centres of India.

● Architect Robert Tor Russell designed

Connaught Place which was named after the
Duke of Connaught. The construction went
on for about 4 years from 1929 to 1933. It
was made to serve the elite living in Delhi,
especially in areas designed by the architect
Edwin Lutyens, now known as the Lutyens
Bungalow Zone.