Rashtrapati Bhavan

"Viceroy's House" redirects here. For the film, see Viceroy's House (film).

For a similar structure in Nepal, see Rastrapati Bhawan.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan (pronunciation , rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; lit. 'Presidential Palace'; is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bhavan may refer to only the 340-room main building that has the president's official residence, including reception halls, guest rooms and offices, also called the mansion; it may also refer to the entire 130-hectare (320-acre) Presidential Estate that additionally includes the presidential gardens, large open spaces, residences of bodyguards and staff, stables, other offices and utilities within its perimeter walls. In terms of area, it is the 2nd largest residence of any head of state in the world after Quirinal Palace in Italy.^[3] The other presidential homes are the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad, Telangana and The Retreat Building in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.

Rashtrapati Bhavan
Official logo
Top: the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan Bottom: the backyard of Rashtrapati Bhavan
Location in New Delhi, Delhi, India
Former names	Viceroy's House (until 1947) Government House (1947–1950)
Alternative names	Presidential House
General information
Architectural style	Delhi Order^[1]
Location	Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi
Address	Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, India – 110 004
Town or city	Delhi
Country	India
Coordinates	28°36′52″N 77°11′59″E / 28.61444°N 77.19972°E / 28.61444; 77.19972Coordinates: 28°36′52″N 77°11′59″E / 28.61444°N 77.19972°E / 28.61444; 77.19972
Current tenants	Droupadi Murmu (President of India)
Construction started	1912; 111 years ago (1912)
Completed	1929; 94 years ago (1929)^[2]
Opened	1931; 92 years ago (1931)
Owner	Republic of India
Height	55 meters
Technical details
Size	130 hectare (321 acre)
Floor count	Four
Floor area	200,000 sq ft (19,000 m^2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Sir Edwin Lutyens
Website
rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in

Short film about Rashtrapati Bhavan

History

The Governor-General of India resided at Government House in Calcutta until the shift of the imperial capital to Delhi. Lord Wellesley, who is reputed to have said that ‘India should be governed from a palace, not from a country house’, ordered the construction of this grand mansion between 1799 and 1803 and in 1912, the Governor of Bengal took up residence there. The decision to build a residence in New Delhi for the British Viceroy was taken after it was decided during the Delhi Durbar in December 1911 that the capital of India would be relocated from Calcutta to Delhi. When the plan for a new city, New Delhi, adjacent to the end south of Old Delhi, was developed after the Delhi Durbar, the new palace for the Viceroy of India was given an enormous size and prominent position. About 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land was acquired to begin the construction of Viceroy's House, as it was originally called, and adjacent Secretariat Building between 1911 and 1916 by relocating Raisina and Malcha villages that existed there and their 300 families under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.^[4][5]

 

The sloping approach from the east, which hides the lower part of the building, as Lutyens feared.

The British architect Edwin Landseer Lutyens, a major member of the city-planning process, was given the primary architectural responsibility. The completed Governor-General's palace turned out very similar to the original sketches which Lutyens sent Herbert Baker, from Simla, on 14 June 1912. Lutyens' design is grandly classical overall, with colours and details inspired by Indian architecture. Lutyens and Baker, who had been assigned to work on Viceroy's House and the Secretariats, began on friendly terms. Baker had been assigned to work on the two secretariat buildings which were in front of the Viceroy's House. The original plan was to have Viceroy's House on the top of Raisina Hill, with the secretariats lower down. It was later decided to build it 400 yards back and put both buildings on top of the plateau.

Lutyens campaigned for its fixing but was not able to get it to be changed. Lutyens wanted to make a long inclined grade to Viceroy's House with retaining walls on either side. While this would give a view of the house from further back, it would also cut through the square between the secretariat buildings. The committee with Lutyens and Baker established in January 1914 said the grade was to be no steeper than 1 in 25, though it eventually was changed to 1 in 22, a steeper gradient which made it more difficult to see the Viceroy's palace. While Lutyens knew about the gradient and the possibility that the Viceroy's palace would be obscured by the road, it is thought that Lutyens did not fully realise how little the front of the house would be visible. In 1916 the Imperial Delhi committee dismissed Lutyens's proposal to alter the gradient. Lutyens thought Baker was more concerned with making money and pleasing the government, rather than making a good architectural design.

Lutyens travelled between India and England almost every year for twenty years and worked on the construction of the Viceroy's House in both countries. Lutyens reduced the building from 13,000,000 cubic feet (370,000 m³) to 8,500,000 cubic feet (240,000 m³) because of budget restrictions.

The gardens were initially designed and laid out in Mughal style by William Robert Mustoe who was influenced by Lady Hardinge who in turn had sought inspiration in the book by Constance Villiers-Stuart in her Gardens of the Great Mughals (1913). The designs underwent changes and alterations under subsequent viceroys and after Indian Independence.^[6] After independence, it was renamed as Government House.^[7]

When Chakravarti Rajagopalachari assumed office as the first Indian-born Governor General of India and became the occupant of this palace, he preferred to stay in a few rooms in the former Guest Wing, which is now the family wing of the President; he converted the then Viceroy's apartments into the Guest Wing, where visiting heads of state stay while in India.

On 26 January 1950, when Rajendra Prasad became the first President of India and occupied this building, it was renamed Rashtrapati Bhavan – the President's House.

Architecture

Design

Consisting of four floors and 340 rooms, with a floor area of 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²), it was built using 1 billion bricks and 3,000,000 cu ft (85,000 m³) of stone with little steel.

The design of the building fell into the period of the Edwardian Baroque, a time at which emphasis was placed on the use of heavy classical motifs to emphasise power and imperial authority. The design process of the mansion was long, complicated and politically charged. Lutyens' early designs were all starkly classical and entirely European in style. His disrespect for the local building tradition he dismissed as primitive is evident in his numerous sketches with appended scrawls such as 'Moghul tosh' and his short remark that 'they want me to do Hindu – Hindodon't I say!' In the post-Mutiny era, however, it was decided that sensitivity must be shown to the local surroundings to better integrate the building within its political context, and after much political debate, Lutyens conceded to incorporating local Indo-Saracenic motifs, albeit in a rather superficial decoration form on the skin of the building.^[8]

Various Indian elements were added to the building. These included several circular stone basins on top of the building, as water features are an important part of Indian architecture. There was also a traditional Indian chujja or chhajja, which occupied the place of a frieze in classical architecture; it was a sharp, thin, protruding element which extended 8 feet (2.4 m) from the building, and created deep shadows. It blocks harsh sunlight from the windows and also shields the windows from heavy rain during the monsoon season. On the roofline were several chuttris, which helped to break up the flatness of the roofline not covered by the dome. Lutyens appropriated some Indian design elements but used them sparingly and effectively throughout the building.^[8]

The column has a "distinctly peculiar crown on top, a glass star springing out of bronze lotus blossom".^[9]

There were pierced screens in red sandstone, called jalis or jaalis,^[10] inspired by Rajasthani designs. The front of the palace, on the east side, has twelve unevenly spaced massive columns with the Delhi Order capitals, a "nonce order" Lutyens invented for this building, with Ashokan details.^[11] The capitals have a fusion of acanthus leaves with the four pendant Indian bells. The bells are similar in style to Indian Hindu and Buddhist temples, the idea is inspired by a Jain temple at Moodabidri in Karnataka.^{[citation needed]} One bell is on each corner at the top of the column. As there is an ancient Indian belief that bells signalled the end of a dynasty, it was said that as the bells were silent British rule in India would not end.^[11] The front of the building does not have windows, except in the wings at the sides.

Whereas previous British examples of so-called Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture had mostly grafted elements from Mughal architecture onto essentially Western carcasses, Lutyens drew also from the much earlier Buddhist Mauryan art. This can be seen in the Dehli Order, and in the main dome, where the drum below has decoration recalling the railings around early Buddhist stupas such as Sanchi.^[12] There is also the presence of Mughal and European colonial architectural elements. Overall the structure is distinctly different from other contemporary British Colonial symbols, although other New Delhi buildings, such as the Secretariat Building, New Delhi, mainly by Herbert Baker, have similarities.

Lutyens added several small personal elements to the house, such as an area in the garden walls and two ventilator windows on the stateroom to look like the glasses which he wore. The Viceregal Lodge was completed largely by 1929, and (along with the rest of New Delhi) inaugurated officially in 1931. Between 1932 and 1933 important decorations were added, especially in the ballroom, and executed by the Italian painter Tommaso Colonnello.^[13] The building took seventeen years to complete and eighteen years later India became independent. After Indian independence in 1947, the now ceremonial Governor-General continued to live there, being succeeded by the President in 1950 when India became a republic and the house was renamed "Rashtrapati Bhavan".

 

Main facade

It has 355 decorated rooms and a floor area of 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²). The structure includes 700 million bricks^[14] and 3.5 million cubic feet (85,000 m³) of stone, with only minimal usage of steel. Lutyens established ateliers in Delhi and Lahore to employ local craftsmen. The chief engineer of the project was Sir Teja Singh Malik, and four main contractors included Sir Sobha Singh.^[15]

 

Jaipur Column There were also statues of elephants and fountain sculptures of cobras, as well as the bas-reliefs around the base of the Jaipur Column, made by British sculptor, Charles Sargeant Jagger.^[16] from west with north block at Rashtrapati Bhawan

Layout plan

The layout plan of the building is designed around a massive square with multiple courtyards and open inner areas within. The plan called for two wings; one for the Viceroy and residents and another for guests. The residence wing is a separate four-storey house in itself, with its court areas within. This wing was so large that the last Indian governor-general, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, opted to live in the smaller guest wing, a tradition followed by subsequent presidents. The original residence wing is now used primarily for state receptions and as a guest wing for visiting heads of state.^[2]

Halls and rooms

Rashtrapati Bhavan has many halls which are used for state functions and other purposes. Two of them, Durbar Hall and Ashoka Hall, are the most prominent.

Durbar Hall is situated directly under the double-dome of the main building. Known as the "Throne Room" before independence, it had two separate thrones for the Viceroy and Vicereine. Presently^[when?], a single high chair for the President is kept here^{[citation needed]} under a Belgian glass chandelier hanging from a height of 33 m.^[17] The flooring of the hall is made of chocolate-coloured Italian marble. The columns in Durbar Hall are made in Delhi Order which combines vertical lines with the motif of a bell. The vertical lines from the column were also used in the frieze around the room, which could not have been done with one of the traditional Greek orders of columns. The columns are made from yellow Jaisalmer marble, with a thick line running along the centre.

Durbar Hall has a capacity of 500 people and it is here in this building that Jawaharlal Nehru took the oath of office of Prime Minister from Lord Mountbatten at 8.30 am on 15 August 1947.

Ashoka Hall is a rectangular room of 32×20 m. It was originally built as a state ballroom with wooden flooring. The Persian painting on its ceiling depicts a royal hunting expedition led by King Fateh Ali Shah of Persia. The walls have fresco paintings.

 

Main gate of Rashtrapati Bhawan with Jaipur Column in background.

The two-state drawing rooms, the state supper room and the state library are each on the four corners of Durbar Hall. There are also other rooms such as many loggias (galleries with open air on one side) that face out into the courtyards, a large dining hall with an extremely long table to seat 104 persons, sitting rooms, billiards rooms and staircases.

Dome

The dome, in the middle, reflects both Indian and British styles. In the centre is a tall copper-faced dome, surmounting a very tall drum in several sections, which stands out from the rest of the building. The dome is exactly in the middle of the diagonals between the four corners of the building. It is more than twice the height of the building itself.

 

Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Member of Parliament, presenting U.S. President Barack Obama with a scarf during the State Dinner receiving line at Rashtrapati Bhawan, 2015

The height of the dome was increased by Lord Hardinge in the plan of the building in 1913. The dome combines classical and Indian styles. Lutyens said the design evolved from that of the Pantheon in Rome,^[18] although externally it has little resemblance to that, either in the curve of the dome or the high drum; both have an oculus in the centre. The exterior of the dome was modelled partly after the early Buddhist stupas, such as that at Sanchi, which it resembles far more in the exterior profile. There is a Buddhist-style "railing" design around the section of the drum below the dome. It is supported by evenly spaced columns which form a porch with an open area between. In the New Delhi summer heat haze, this gives an impression of the dome being afloat. Workers began to form the reinforced concrete shell of the outer dome at the beginning of 1929. The last stone of the dome was laid on 6 April 1929.

Garden

'Amrit Udyan' (meaning: The Garden of the Holy Nectar) is a garden situated at the back of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Formerly known as the 'Mughal Gardens', it incorporates both Mughal and English landscaping styles and feature a great variety of flowers and trees.^[19] The Rashtrapati Bhavan gardens are open to the public in February–March every year during Udyanotsav.^[20]

Main garden: Two channels intersecting at right angles running in the cardinal directions divide this garden into a grid of squares: a charbagh. There are six lotus-shaped fountains at the crossings of these channels, rising to a height of 12 feet (3.7 m). The channels function as reflecting pools. There are bird tables for feeding grain to wild birds.

Terrace garden: There are two longitudinal strips of the garden, at a higher level on each side of the Main Garden, forming the Northern and Southern boundaries. The plants grown are the same as in the Main Garden. At the centre of both of the strips is a fountain, which falls inwards, forming a well. On the Western tips are located two gazebos and on the Eastern tips are two ornately designed sentry posts.

 

A fountain in the Amrit Udyan.

Long Garden or the 'Purdah Garden': This is located to the West of the Main Garden, and runs along each side of the central pavement which goes to the circular garden. Enclosed in walls about 12 feet high, this is predominantly a rose garden. It has 16 square rose beds encased in low hedges. There is a red sandstone pergola in the centre over the central pavement which is covered with Rose creepers, Petrea, Bougainvillea and vines. The walls are covered with creepers like jasmine, Rhynchospermum, Tecoma Grandiflora, Bignonia Vanista, Adenoclyma, Echitice, Parana Paniculata. Along the walls are planted the China Orange trees.

Around the circular garden, there are rooms for the office of the horticulturist, a greenhouse, stores, a nursery etc. Here is housed a collection of bonsais.

Museum

In July 2014, a museum inside Rashtrapati Bhavan was inaugurated by then President of India Pranab Mukherjee. The museum helps visitors to get an inside view of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, its art, architecture and get educated about lives of past presidents.^[21] The second phase was inaugurated in 2016 by the President Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.^[22] The museum has been built under the guidance of Saroj Ghose.^[22]

Restoration

The first restoration project at the Rashtrapati Bhavan was started in 1985 and ended in 1989, during which the Ashoka Hall was stripped of its later additions and restored to its original state by the architectural restorer Sunita Kohli. The second restoration project, begun in 2010, involved Charles Correa and Sunita Kohli.^[15][23][24]

Gallery

•  

  US First Lady Melania Trump at Rashtrapati Bhavan

•  

  A banquet at the President's House

•  

  US President Trump and the US First Lady at Rashtrapati Bhavan

•  

  Rashtrapati Bhavan
  illuminated for Indian Republic Day

•  

  Rashtrapati Bhavan Night View

Visuals of Rashtrapati Bhavan

See also

• List of official residences of India
• Rashtrapati Nilayam
• The Retreat Building
• Rashtrapati Ashiana
• Sir Herbert Baker

References

1. Kahn, Jeremy (30 December 2007). "Amnesty Plan for Relics of the Raj". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2012. He also invented his own "Delhi Order" of neo-Classical columns that fuse Greek and Indian elements.
2. "Rashtrapati Bhavan". The President of India. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
3. Goyal, Shikha (8 March 2017). "20 amazing facts about the Rashtrapati Bhavan". jagranjosh.com. Jagran Prakashan Limited. from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
4. "New Delhi villagers seek compensation 100 years after being evicted by Raj". The Daily Telegraph. 4 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
5. "The history of Rashtrapati Bhavan : The official home of the President of India". 19 September 2015.
6. Bowe, Patrick (2009). "'The genius of an artist: William R. Mustoe and the planting of the city of New Delhi and its gardens". Garden History. 37 (1): 68–79. ISSN 0307-1243. JSTOR 40649671.
7. Multiple sources:
   • "About Us". Rashtrapati Bhavan. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
   • Gandhi, Rajmohan (2007), Mohandas: True Story of a Man, His People, Penguin Books Limited, ISBN 9788184753172
   • Dalal, Roshen (2003), Puffin History of India For Children : 2, Puffin Books, p. 6, ISBN 9780143335467
   • "RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN", PUBLICATIONS DIVISION, Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, 2003, ISBN 9788123029986
   • Gandhi, Rajmohan (2008), Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire, University of California Press, p. 632, ISBN 9780520255708
   • von Tunzelmann, Alex (1971), Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire, Simon & Schuster UK, ISBN 9781471114762
8. Inan, 100-101
9. Peck, Lucy; INTACH (2005). Delhi, a thousand years of building. The Lotus Collection, Roli Books. p. 276. ISBN 978-81-7436-354-1.
10. Inan, 101
11. Inan, 102
12. Inan, 100-102
13. Perantuono, Carmine (27 July 2017). "In mostra l'arte di Tommaso Colonnello a Ortona". Rete8. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
14. Wilhide, Elizabeth (26 October 2012). Sir Edwin Lutyens: Designing in the English Tradition. National Trust. p. 50. ISBN 978-1907892271.
15. "Lutyens' Legacy". Forbes. 2 July 2007.
16. Hussey, Christopher (1953). The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 0-907462-59-6.
17. "Durbar Hall | Rashtrapati Bhavan". rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
18. "Rashtrapati Bhavan – Rashtrapati Bhavan Delhi, President's House New Delhi India". Iloveindia.com. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
19. Bureau, The Hindu (28 January 2023). "Mughal Gardens will now be called as Amrit Udyan". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
20. "President to open Udyanotsav 2014 at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Feb 15". Biharprabha News. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
21. "President inaugurates Rashtrapati Bhavan museum". Biharprabha News. Indo-Asian News Service. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
22. Chatterji, Saubhadra (24 July 2016). "Rashtrapati Bhavan museum ready to welcome visitors: 10 key attractions". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 23 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
23. . The Times of India. 17 July 2010. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
24. . The Times of India. 16 July 2010. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.

Bibliography

• Davies, Philip (1987). Splendours of the Raj: British Architecture in India, 1660–1947. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-009247-9.
• Gradidge, Roderick (February 1982). Edwin Lutyens, Architect Laureate. London: Unwin Hyman. ISBN 978-0047200236.
• Inan, Aseem, "Tensions Manifested: Reading the Viceroy's House in New Delhi", in The Emerging Asian City: Concomitant Urbanities and Urbanisms, ed. Vinayak Bharne, Routledge UK, 2012
• Irving, Robert Grant (May 1981). Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker, and Imperial Delhi. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02422-7.
• Nath, Aman; Mehra, Amit (2002). Dome over India: Rashtrapati Bhavan. India Book House. ISBN 978-8175083523.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

• Welcome to the Rashtrapati Bhavan
• http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~bagchi/delhi/writing/lutyens.html
• She does Chandigarh proud, Research on Rashtrapati Bhavan architecture