The Civil Lines is a

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

and one of the 3 subdivisions of the

Central Delhi Central Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. It is bounded by the Yamuna River on the east and by the districts of North Delhi to the north, West Delhi and South West Delhi to the west, New De ...

district of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is one of the 12 zones under the

Municipal Corporation of Delhi Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is the municipal corporation that governs most of Delhi, India. The MCD is among the largest municipal bodies in the world providing civic services to an estimated population of more than 11 million citiz ...

. It was the hub of European-style

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

in the city until

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

came into being in 1911. The official residence of the

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi is the constitutional head of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The post was first established in September 1966, when The Delhi Administration Act, 1966 came into effect. Thus the former Delhi Legislativ ...

is also located at Raj Niwas Marg, Civil Lines.

History

The name Civil Lines is a relic of

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

times, when the city of Delhi was organized into separate areas where the British military and civilian buildings were located. Areas, where civilians lived, were demarcated as

Civil Lines Civil Lines (archaically White Town) are the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate. These townships were built all over the Indian subconti ...

. One monument of the British Raj era is the Metcalfe House, Delhi. This is where the administration and governance of the Indian Empire were conducted by nineteen Governor Generals (Viceroys) from

Charles Hardinge Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, (20 June 1858 – 2 August 1944) was a British diplomat and statesman who served as Viceroy and Governor-General of India from 1910 to 1916. Background and education Hardinge was the second ...

Lord Irwin Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior Conservative Party (UK), British Conservat ...

at their offices housed in the Old Secretariat building on the Alipore Road, and the residence of these Governor Generals was the prestigious bungalow at 1.Alipore Road which was vacated by the British Indian government in 1930 to relocate the residence for succeeding viceroys at a palatial complex on the Raisina hill in Lutyens' Delhi known as the Viceroy's House. The bungalow at 1. Alipore Road today houses the Indra Prastha College for Women. The Old Secretariat after 1931 housed the offices of the British Indian Army and the Post Master General and the adjoining Army Press. After independence, It became the seat of Delhi's Metropolitan Council and currently houses several offices of the Central Government like the Publications Department and offices of the Delhi Administration. The Viceroy's House today is the official residence of the Presidents of the Indian Republic and is called the

Rashtrapati Bhawan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

. The offices of the Old Secretariat at Alipore Road were also relocated in 1931 to the New Secretarial Building at Lutyens' Delhi adjoining the Vice Roy's House and is called the Central Secretariat today. One of the earliest modern hotels in Delhi was the Maidens Hotel, later Oberoi Maidens, built-in 1903. It was situated in the Civil Lines, where all European-style hotels were situated and the officers of

stayed. Other hotels in the area were Swiss Hotel and Hotel Cecil, run by Robert Hotz family, which also owned Wildflower Hall and Cecil Hotel in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

. Hotel Cecil was later demolished and today St. Xavier's School stands on the location. Raj Niwas, the official residence of the

, the head of state of

and

National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, is located on Raj Niwas Marg in Civil Lines. A children's home run by

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

Missionaries of Charity The Missionaries of Charity ( la, Congregatio Missionariarum a Caritate) is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as ...

lies north of

Qudsia Bagh Qudsia Bagh (English: ''Qudsia Garden'') is an 18th-century garden complex and palace located in Old Delhi, India. History The complex was constructed in 1748 for Qudsia Begum, the mother of Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur. It is situa ...

in Civil Lines. Civil Lines is quite a big area consisting of various colonies and offices. One of the main colonies is

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. In 2015, sanctioned strength of Delhi ...

Staff Quarters which is just behind the Civil Lines Police Station. Civil Lines is connected to

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

North Campus. It is now a developing district. It includes areas like: * Ata-ur-Rehman Lane * Court Road * Rajpur Road * Sham Nath Marg (erstwhile Alipore Road) * Under Hill Road * Under Hill Lane * Police Lines * Shankracharya Marg * Bela Road * Nuruddin Ahmad Lane * Raj Narain Road * Maharaja Lal Lane * Battery Lane * Jamna Marg * Raj Niwas Road * Sri Ram Road * Flagstaff Road * North End Road * Racquet Court Road * Ram Kishore Road *

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...

Road * Khyber Pass Market * Magazine Road * Sant Parmanand Hospital * Tirath Ram Shah Hospital * Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital * The National Institute of Communicable Diseases * The Indra Prastha College for Women

Surrounding areas

, North Campus *

Mukherjee Nagar Mukherjee Nagar, Popularly Known for SSC CGL Preparation, is a place in northern Delhi. It is located near GTB Nagar metro station of Yellow line. It is also known as Kingsway Camp. The place is a prominent commercial location for hundreds of ...

: an educational hub, mostly known for S.S.C and I.A.S. coachings. It used to had a famous Batra Cinema. *

Kingsway Camp Kingsway Camp, officially Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar (GTB Nagar) since 1970, is a historic area located in North West Delhi, near Civil Lines and Delhi University. It starts from Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar (GTB) intersection, and has residential areas ...

: the main road of G.T.B. Nagar. It is a very congested market. *

Timarpur ''For other places with the same name, see Wazirabad (disambiguation)'' Timarpur is one of the seven electoral constituencies in North Delhi, India. It is located near University of Delhi and has an area under 2 square kilometers. Its popul ...

: residential bungalows and multi-story apartment blocks of the Central Government and the Delhi Administration employee. It includes a private residential colony called the Benarasi Dass Estate aka the BD Estate * BD Estate Market. It also houses the Delhi Metro Khyber Pass Terminal and train maintenance yards. Site for an upcoming large multi-story private residential complex called La Tropicana. * Radio Colony: a housing colony for employees of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

* Dhir Pur: a small and congested village near Rosary School * Dhaka Village: a concentration of rental housing for students * Gandhi Ashram, Delhi: a green open area, sometimes having a "Khadi Mela". Once

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

visited it. * Parmanand Colony: Most of the

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...

and

Punjabis The Punjabis ( Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Panjābīs), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The ...

live here. * Model Town: an affluent neighborhood with a popular shopping district with many branded showrooms * Munshi Ram Colony/Dairy: a residential area adjacent to Parade Marg and Sant Nirankari Public School * Nirankari Colony

Transport

The

underground station of the

Delhi Metro The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of 10 colour-cod ...

services the area. The station harbors the yellow line. This residential area is also close to Kashmere Gate metro station, which harbors three metro lines. Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT) is very close to the colony. *Civil Lines to Connaught Place: 10 mins by Metro and 15–20 mins by Road. *Civil Lines to Delhi

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

: 35–40 mins by car. * Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) at Kashmere Gate, which provides bus service to points in other states, is a 5 min drive. *

Old Delhi Railway Station Delhi Junction railway station is the oldest railway station in Old Delhi, Delhi, India. It is one of the busiest railway stations in India in terms of frequency. Around 250 trains start, end, or pass through the station daily. It was establish ...

: 5–6 mins by Metro and 10–12 mins by Road. * New Delhi Railway Station: 8–10 mins by Metro and 20–25 mins by Road.

Restaurants

* Romeo Lane * L'opera * Best of Asia Village

Shops

* 24SEVEN

Hotels

* Oberoi Maidens Hotel * Gujrati Samaj

Notable people

* Residence of the current

Chief Minister of Delhi The chief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is the head of government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. According to the Constitution of India, the lieutenant governor is the National Capital Territory of Delhi's ''de ...

Arvind Kejriwal Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: �ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national conv ...

. * TV Journalist-

Vinod Dua Vinod Dua (11 March 1954 – 4 December 2021) was an Indian journalist who worked in Doordarshan and NDTV India. In 1996, he became the first electronic media journalist to be bestowed with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award. ...

and his daughter

Mallika Dua Mallika Dua (born 18 July 1989) is an Indian comedian, actress and writer. The comedian shot to fame with the viral video of ''Shit People Say: Sarojini Nagar Edition'', which was written, styled and enacted by Dua herself. She is the daughter o ...

live here. * Mallika Lamba Sherawat- Civil Lines is

Mallika Sherawat Reema Lamba (born 24 October 1976), better known as Mallika Sherawat, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi language films. Known for her bold onscreen attitude in films like ''Khwahish'' (2003) and ''Murder'' (2004), Sherawat ...

’s childhood home. * Food writer and TV personality

Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey CBE (née Bahadur; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian-British-American actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere with her debut cookbook, ...

was born here.

References

{{Neighborhoods of Delhi Neighbourhoods in Delhi North Delhi district District subdivisions of Delhi