Abdulhussain Thariani at the foundation ceremony of the Baitul Mukarram Mosque

Abdulhusein Meheraly Thariani (3 April 1905 – 30 December 1972) was a member of the first generation of formally trained

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

.Chapter 8: Architecture after independence
Archnet.org Retrieved 8 March 2016 Amongst his most prominent works is the

Baitul Mukarram Baitul Mukarram, also spelled as Baytul Mukarrom ( ar, بيت المكرّم, bn, বায়তুল মোকাররম; ), is the National Mosque of Bangladesh. Located at the center of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, the mosque was comple ...

(National Mosque of Bangladesh) in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

, Bangladesh.Baitul Mukarram, The National Mosque of Bangladesh
Retrieved 8 March 2016 His works can be seen in three cities in three countries:

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, India; Karachi, Pakistan; and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background

Thariani was born in 1905 in Bombay in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now Mumbai, India) as the only child of Fatimabai and Meheraly Thariani. He attended the J. J. School of Art's Architecture department. He was married to Gulshan; amongst his children are the Pakistani architects Saleem Thariani and Azad Thariani. His grandson Kumail is also an architect. His daughter

Sabira Merchant Sabira Merchant (nee Vazirali) (born 4 August 1942) is a Miss India trainer and actor based in Mumbai. She is a top etiquette trainer in India. Background Merchant was born in Bombay to Goolshen and Abdulhusein M. Thariani, the fifth child. She ...

is an actress and etiquette trainer in India.

Career

His career spanned almost four decades from 1929 to the late 1960s. In the 1950s, he along with 10 other practising architects including two foreigners; M. A. Ahed, Tajuddin Bhamani, Minoo Mistry, Pir Mohammad, R. S. Rustomji, H. H. Khan, Mehdi Ali Mirza, Zahiruddn Khawaja, Bloomfield and Peter Powell, formed the

Institute of Architects, Pakistan Institute of Architects, Pakistan is the Professional Development body of architects in Pakistan.The Pakistan council of Architects and Planners(PCATP)IS THE GOVERNING BODY under 1983 Act,passed by the Parliament. History It was formed in 1957 by a ...

.Book Review
Archpress Retrieved 9 March 2016.Mumtaz, K. K., "Modernity and Tradition" Karachi: OUP 1999 pg. 121

British India (pre-1947)

He established his own practice, Abdulhusein M. Thariani in Bombay in 1929. Amongst his works in the city is the Ambassador Hotel.

Pakistan (from 1947)

After the creation of Pakistan as an independent state in 1947, he moved to Karachi and joined M/s Hyderi Construction Company as its Managing Director. Under his direction the first

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

of Pakistan, Valika Textile Mills, in S.I.T.E. was constructed. In the early 1950s he left the company to restart his own practice under the name of Thariani & Co.

Freedom Movement

Thariani was an active member of the independence movement. He was the editor of the Vatan (1942), a

Gujarati language Gujarati (; gu, ગુજરાતી, Gujarātī, translit-std=ISO, label=Gujarati script, ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Gu ...

newspaper seeking to gain the support of the business community for the cause of Pakistan.

Poet

Besides practising as an architect, Thariani wrote poetry in Gujarati under the pen-name of Sabir. His collection of poems was translated into

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Josh Malihabadi Josh Malihabadi (born Shabbir Hasan Khan; 5 December 1898 – 22 February 1982) popularly known as Shayar-e-Inqalab (poet of revolution) was a Pakistani poet and is regarded as one of the finest Urdu poets of the era of British India. Kno ...

, and published. One of his poems was included in the Gujrati syllabus at the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (whic ...

Projects

* Ambassador Hotel In

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

* Habib Square (1956) * Muhammadi House (commercial building) In

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

* Sonali Bank Limited, Head Office, Motijheel Dhaka (former National Bank of Pakistan) * Adamjee Court (former headquarters in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

of the

Adamjee Group Adamjee Group of Companies is a conglomerate company based primarily in Karachi, Pakistan. The group was headed by Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood. As of 2007, it is unofficially estimated that the owners of Adamjee Group are among the top 40 wealthiest ...

) * Baitul Mukarram National Mosque * Dhaka Improvement Trust Building ( RAJUK Bhaban) *

Rajshahi Cadet College Rajshahi Cadet College ( bn, রাজশাহী ক্যাডেট কলেজ), or RCC, is a military high school, located in Sardah, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. It is situated by the bank of river Padma at Mukhtarpur village of Sardah in Cha ...

(formerly Ayub Cadet College), Sardah, Rajshahi *

Mirzapur Cadet College Mirzapur Cadet College ( bn, মির্জাপুর ক্যাডেট কলেজ) is a Military high school in Tangail, Bangladesh. Like other cadet colleges it follows the national curriculum prescribed by the National Curriculum a ...

(formerly Momenshahi Cadet College),

Tangail Tangail ( bn, টাঙ্গাইল, ), is a major city within the Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh. It sits on the bank of the Louhajang River, north-west of Dhaka, the nation's capital. It is considered to be the main urban area of ...

* Jhenaidah Cadet College *Residence of Badal Ghosh (owner of Ajax Jute Mill) in Gulshan,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thariani, Abdulhusein M. 1905 births 1972 deaths Muhajir people Pakistani architects Artists from Mumbai Khoja Ismailism Pakistani people of Gujarati descent