A walk through ‘colonial Kolkata’ to take in architectural marvels

KOLKATA: A group of 40 people that included housewives, lawyers, students and retired individuals came together to rediscover one of the last surviving colonial areas of the world. The walk organized by a Facebook group, ‘Purono Kolkatar Golpo (PKG), covered the heritage buildings — the architectural marvels of Dalhousie, also known as ‘White Town’.

They met at St John’s Church from where the group walked along Kiran Shankar Roy Road to visit the Town House of Warren Hastings. This building now houses several offices and is in a shambles. Group administrator Swarnali Chattopadhyay said, “The central business district is dotted with colonial buildings that are noteworthy for their architectural style. The city perhaps got its moniker ‘City of Palaces’ because of these buildings.”

The group then visited Calcutta High Court, the oldest high court of India. Walking down the Council House Street and Red Cross Place, the team visited the stables of Raj Bhavan, The Standard Life Assurance Building, The Hong Kong House and the Central Telegraph Office.

Senior conservation architect Akhil Ranjan Sarkar, who led the walk spoke about the uniqueness of the heritage buildings. He said, “These British-era buildings were built replicating the style and elements of European architecture in bricks and locally available alluvial soil. These specimens of architecture are found in European countries and are sculpted mainly with stones.”

He added, “These walks will make the citizens aware of the architectural legacy and help in restoration and conservation.”

The next two stops were St Andrews Church and Writers’ Buildings, which perhaps dominates the northern side of Dalhousie with its beautiful structure. R P Chatterjee (74) was not tired at all but excited. “I live on College Street, but this is the first time I am exploring Dalhousie in a new way.” SK Abdul Amin, a research scholar at Jadavpur University, felt that the walk was highly researched and informative.