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| Indo-Saracenic styled Chennai central station. flicker com |
The Indo-Saracenic architectural style followed by British architects in the late 19th century British India drew inspirations from native building styles and designs of Indo-Islamic and Hindoo and aesthetically blended them with the Gothic revival and Neo-Classical styles quite popular in Victorian Britain period. Prior to this exotic style in early 1800s quite prevalent among the public buildings there were the European classical style mixing Greek and Roman designs. It was a symbol of power and status for the ruling class to keep them away from the natives.
After the great rebellion of 1857- 1858 by the native Indian soldiers against the English Company's misrule suppression and with the advent of direct crown rule after that under the Raj, the rulers wanted to maintain their imperial status in India and, at the same time, needed a link between the rulers and natives of colonized land. This culminated in the introduction of Indo-Saracenic style to represent the empire and their connection with the early Hindu -Mogul rulers. They kept the ex-Muslim and Hindu rulers in power by way of forming Princely states and bestowed them with various British titles. They also classified them as salute states based on their extend of land, revenue and style of living.
It was a way of legitimatizing their rule in this Asian land being the masters to rule and not to be ruled under. They gave limited powers to the princes and each princely state had a British Resident to check the activities going on in respective states. In this regard the British rulers took the advice of -Sir Thomas Metcalf. As for the rulers, with frequent visits by Europeans to their places, their life style also changed because of their close association; so was the design and architecture of their buildings and palaces with lots of embellishments and fine furniture.
The leading architects were Robert Fellowes Chisholm Charles Mant Henry Irwin William Emerson George Wittet Frederick W. Stevens whose imagination and expertise made a mark in all major cities in India.
The Indo-Saracenic features stand apart; they are : Minarets, Harem Windows, Open Pavilions, Pierced Open Arcading, Domed Kiosks, Many Miniature Domes, or Domed Chhatris, Towers impressive Onion (Bulbous) Domes Overhanging Eaves, Pointed Arches, Cusped Arches, or Scalloped Arches Vaulted Roofs. colonnaded balcony, Chattris & Chajjas in red sandstone.Refer to the features in the images presented here.
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| Historical Hindu temple architecture. .slideshare.net |
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| Contemporary Architecture (1920 – 1930) indian, slidesharenet. |
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| harem window on balcony, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. alamy com. |
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| royal courtyard,Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.gounesco. |
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| .Open courtyard Junagarh Fort Bikaner Rajasthan India alamy.com |
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| Dome of the Taj Mahalwonders-of-the-world.net |
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3rd BCE great stupa, most popular monument at Sanchi, India hemysteriousworld.com
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| domed kisok, india. alamy.com |
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| Harem windows, Hawa Mahal, Jaipur, India. 123rf.com |
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| Chhatri, Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, india. |
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| Sidi Bashir mosque, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. wkimedia commons, |
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| tomb of Salim Chishti in Fatehpur Sikri tallest minarets. (India).en.wikipedia.com |
Above image: The tomb of Salim Chishti in Fatehpur Sikri (India) exhibiting a deep chhajja following the perimeter of the building supported with elaborate brackets. A chhajja is actually projecting or overhanging eaves or cover of a roof, usually supported on large carved brackets; it is common as part of the architecture of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In Rajasthan they are particularly large and are meant for protection against elemental forces like the sun and rain.....................
The following are some additional examples of colonial buildings in India. This one and the previous post cover just some samples.
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| Madras High Court building wikipedia.org |
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| slideshare.net |
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| Delhi Secretariate. slideshare.net |
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| The All-India War Memorial 1931, Delhi. postcolonialweb. |
Above image: The Memorial records the names of 13,516 officers who died fighting on the North-West frontier and in the Thirth Afghan War (1919). The 42 meter tall arch is surmounted by a stone bowl to be filled with oil for with the plan to place an'eternal flame' to burn in the dome on top of the arch. This was, however, never done. Today, a flame -- the Amar Jawan Jyoti ('Eternal Flame of the Immortal Soldier') -- burns below, just behind the three flags of the army, air force and navy which can be seen in the foreground.
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| The National Art Gallery, chennai. wikipedia. |
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| HQ of Southern Railways, chennai. en.wikipedia.org |
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| Mogul-style structure, Magistrate court,Chennai. timesofindia.indiatimes.com |
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| Metropolitan Magistrate court, Egmore. timesofindia.indiatimes.com |
The same year, a new 6-story 71,200-square-feet structure with 12 court halls, came up on the same premises as additional court complex. sum of Rs. 26.28 crores was spentfor this new building. For three years the court functioned in Lily Pond shopping complex near central station during the construction period that was was done by the state PWD
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| /timesofindia.indiatimes.com |
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| Chennai Central railway station flicker com |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennai_Central_railway_station
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| Chennai Egmore railway stationen.wikipedia.org |
Above image: Chennai Egmore railway station, Southern Railways. (formerly known as Madras Egmore) railway station, Tamil Nadu, India is one of the four intercity railway terminals in the city and the other three railway stations are Chennai Central Railway Station, Tambaram railway station and Chennai Beach railway station. The station was built in 1906–1908 as the terminus of the South Indian Railway Company. The building built in Gothic style is one of the prominent landmarks of Chennai. The main entrance to the station is on Gandhi-Irwin Road and the rear entrance on Poonamallee High Road.The station was apparently constructed from land purchased from Pulney Andy.It is built in the Gothic style with imposing domes and corridors. Built more than 200 years ago, it is being well maintained by the railways,
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| toldest High Court in India, Kolkata, WB t heculturetrip.com |
https://www.calcuttahighcourt.gov.in/page/About-High-Court
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Saracenic_architectureooo