Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a
revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government buildings in the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Q ...
, and the palaces of rulers of the
princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...
s. It drew stylistic and decorative elements from native
Indo-Islamic architecture, especially
Mughal architecture, which the British regarded as the classic Indian style, and, less often, from
Hindu temple architecture. The basic layout and structure of the buildings tended to be close to that used in contemporary buildings in other revivalist styles, such as
Gothic revival and
Neo-Classical, with specific Indian features and decoration added.
The style drew from western exposure to depictions of Indian buildings from about 1795, such as those by
William Hodges and the Daniell duo (
William Daniell and his uncle
Thomas Daniell). The first Indo-Saracenic building is often said to be the
Chepauk Palace, completed in 1768, in present-day
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
(Madras), for the
Nawab of Arcot.
Bombay
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 sec ...
and
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...
(as they then were), as the main centres of the Raj administration, saw many buildings constructed in the style, although Calcutta was also a bastion of European Neo-classical architecture fused with Indic architectural elements. Most major buildings are now classified under the Heritage buildings category as laid down by the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and protected.
The style enjoyed a degree of popularity outside British India, where architects often mixed Islamic and European elements from various areas and periods with boldness, in the prevailing climate of
eclecticism in architecture. Among other British colonies and protectorates in the region, it was adopted by architects and engineers in
British Ceylon (present-day
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
) and the
Federated Malay States (present-day
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
). The style was sometimes used, mostly for large houses, in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
itself, for example at the royal
Brighton Pavilion (1787–1823) and
Sezincote House (1805) in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
.
The wider European version, also popular in the Americas, is
Moorish Revival architecture, which tends to use specific South Asian features less, and instead those characteristic of the Arabic-speaking countries;
Neo-Mudéjar is the equivalent style in Spain. In India there had been an earlier inversion of the style in
Lucknow before the British takeover in 1856, where Indian architects rather "randomly grafted European stylistic elements, as details and motifs, on to a skeleton derived from the Indo-Islamic school". This is known as the "Nawabi style".
Saracen was a term used in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
in Europe for the Arabic-speaking Muslim people of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
and
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
, and the term "Indo-Saracenic" was first used by the British to describe the earlier
Indo-Islamic architecture of the Mughals and their predecessors, and often continued to be used in that sense. "Saracenic architecture" (without the "Indo-") was first used for the architecture of
Muslim Spain, the most familiar
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...
to most early 19th-century writers in English.
Characteristics
With a number of exceptions from earlier, most Indo-Saracenic public buildings were constructed by parts of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Q ...
government of India, in place between 1858 and 1947, with the peak period beginning around 1880. They partly reflected the British aspiration for an "Imperial style" of their own, rendered on an intentionally grand scale, reflecting and promoting a notion of an unassailable and invincible
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading post ...
, The style has been described as "part of a 19th-century movement to project themselves as the natural successors of the Mughals".
At the same time they were built for modern functions such as railway stations, government offices for an increasingly wide-reaching bureaucracy, and law courts. They often incorporated modern construction methods and facilities. While stone was typically used, at least as a facing, these included substructures composed of iron, steel and
poured concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
, and later
reinforced concrete and
pre-cast concrete elements.
The style has been said, by a native of Kolkata, to be most common in "Southern and Western India", and of the three main cities of the 19th-century Raj, it was and is much more evident in
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 secon ...
and
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
rather than
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, where both public government buildings, and the mansions of wealthy Indians tended to use versions of European
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...
. Madras (now Chennai) was a particular centre of the style, but still tended to use details from Mughal architecture, which had barely ever reached
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
before. This was partly because English authorities such as
James Fergusson especially deprecated
Dravidian architecture
Dravidian architecture, or the South Indian temple style, is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged from South India, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. It is seen in Hindu temples, and the most distin ...
, which also would also have been harder and more expensive to adapt to modern building functions.
Typical elements found include:
*
onion (bulbous) domes
*
Chhajja,
overhanging eaves, often supported by conspicuous brackets
* pointed arches, cusped arches, or scalloped arches
*
horseshoe arches, in fact characteristic of
Islamic Spain or North Africa, but often used
* contrasting colours of
voussoir
A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.
Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
s round an arch, especially red and white; another feature more typical of North Africa and Spain
* curved roofs in Bengali styles such as
char-chala
* domed
chhatri kiosks on the roofline
*
pinnacles
*
towers or
minarets
* open
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
s or pavilions with Bangala roofs
*
jalis or
openwork screens
*
Mashrabiya
A ''mashrabiya'' or ''mashrabiyya'' ( ar, مشربية) is an architectural element which is characteristic of traditional architecture in the Islamic world and beyond. It is a type of projecting oriel window enclosed with carved wood lattice ...
or
jharokha-style screened windows
*
Iwans, in the form of entrances set back from the facade, under an arch.
Chief proponents of this style of architecture included
Robert Fellowes Chisholm, Sir
Samuel Swinton Jacob
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...
,
Charles Mant
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...
,
Henry Irwin,
William Emerson,
George Wittet
George Wittet (1878-1926) was a Scottish architect who worked mostly in Mumbai, India.
Biography
George Wittet was born in Blair Atholl, Scotland in 1878. He studied architecture with a Mr. Heiton of Perth, Scotland, and worked in Edinburgh ...
and
Frederick Stevens, along with numerous other skilled professionals and artisans throughout Europe and the Americas.
Structures built in Indo-Saracenic style in India and in certain nearby countries were predominantly grand public edifices, such as
clock towers and
courthouses. Likewise, civic as well as municipal and governmental
college
A college ( Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
s along with
town hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually house ...
s counted this style among its top-ranked and most-prized structures to this day; ironically, in Britain itself, for example, King George IV's
Royal Pavilion at
Brighton, (which twice in its lifetime has been threatened with being torn-down, denigrated by some as a “
carnival sideshow”, and dismissed by threatened nationalists as “an architectural folly of inferior design”, no less) and elsewhere, these rare and often diminutive (though sometimes, as mentioned, of grand-scale), residential structures that exhibit this colonial style are highly valuable and prized by the communities in which they exist as being somehow "magical" in appearance.
Typically, in India, villages, towns and cities of some means would lavish significant sums on construction of such architectural works when plans were drawn up for construction of the local
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
s,
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...
s and
art galleries.
The cost involved in the construction of buildings of this style was high, including all their inherent customization, ornament and minutia decoration, the artisans' ingenuous skills (stone and wood carving, as well as the exquisite lapidary/inlaid work) and usual accessibility to requisite raw materials, hence the style was executed only on buildings of a grand scale. However the occasional residential structure of this sort, (its being built in part or whole with Indo-Saracenic design elements/motifs) did appear quite often, and such buildings have grown ever more valuable and highly prized by local and foreign populations for their exuberant beauty and elegance today.
Either evidenced in a property's primary unit or any of its outbuildings, such estate-caliber residential properties lucky enough to boost the presence of an Indo-Saracenic structure, are still to be seen, generally, where in instances
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
has not yet overcome them; often they are to be found in exclusive neighborhoods' (or surrounded, as cherished survivors, by enormous sky-scarpers, in more recently claimed urbanized areas throughout this “techno” driven, socio-economic revolutionary era marking India's recent decade's history), and are often locally referred to as "mini-palaces". Usually, their form-factors are these: townhouse, wings and/or porticoes. Additionally, more often seen are the diminutive renditions of the Indo-Saracenic style, built originally for lesser budgets, finding their nonetheless romantic expression in the occasional and serenely beautiful garden pavilion outbuildings, throughout the world, especially, in India and England.
Indian context
Confluence of different architectural styles had been attempted before during the mainly
Turkic
Turkic may refer to:
* anything related to the country of Turkey
* Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages
** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation)
** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language
* ...
,
Delhi Sultanate and
Mughal
Mughal or Moghul may refer to:
Related to the Mughal Empire
* Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries
* Mughal dynasty
* Mughal emperors
* Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia
* Mughal architecture
* Mug ...
periods. Turkic and Mughal incursions in the Indian subcontinent, introduced new concepts in the much more advanced high architecture of India. The prevailing style of architecture was
trabeate, employing pillars,
beams and
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case o ...
s, with less emphasis on arches and domes used during earlier Buddhist periods. The Turkic invaders brought in the arcuate style of construction, with more emphasis on
arch
An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it.
Arches may be synonymous with vau ...
es and beams, which flourished with
Mughal
Mughal or Moghul may refer to:
Related to the Mughal Empire
* Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries
* Mughal dynasty
* Mughal emperors
* Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia
* Mughal architecture
* Mug ...
and
Taluqdars by building and incorporating Indian architecture, especially
Rajasthani temple architecture and Imperial Indian palace/fort/urban architecture as well.
Local influences also led to different 'orders' of the Indo-Islamic style. After the disintegration of the
Turkic
Turkic may refer to:
* anything related to the country of Turkey
* Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages
** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation)
** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language
* ...
Delhi Sultanate, rulers of individual states established their own rule and hence their own architectural styles which were imitations of local/regional Indian architectural schools. Examples of these are the 'Bengal' and the 'Gujarat' schools. Motifs such as
chhajja (a sunshade or
eave laid on cantilever brackets fixed into and projecting from the walls),
corbel brackets with richly carved "stalactite"
pendentive decorations, balconies, kiosks or
chhatris, and minars (tall towers) were characteristic of the imitation-Mughal architecture style, which was to become a lasting legacy of the nearly four hundred years of the Mughal presence in these areas.
Mughal style
Mughal architecture developed the
Indo-Islamic architecture of the
Delhi Sultanate with a further addition of
Timurid and Persian elements. The height of the style was perhaps reached under
Akbar, the third
Mughal emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...
. Some of the significant architectural works of the Mughals are
Humayun's Tomb, the
Taj Mahal, the Forts of
Agra and
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...
, the city of
Fatehpur Sikri,
Akbar's Tomb.
Decline and revival
Shah Jahan was succeeded by his son,
Aurangzeb, who had little interest in art and architecture. As a result, Mughal commissioned architecture suffered, with most engineers, architects and artisans migrating to work under the patronage of local rulers. By the early 19th century, the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...
(EIC) controlled large portions of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...
. In 1803, their control was further strengthened after defeating the
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of S ...
which was led by
Daulat Rao Sindhia. The EIC legitimized
their rule by taking Mughal emperor
Shah Alam II under their protection, and ruling in conjunction with him. However, their power was yet again challenged when in 1857
Indian soldiers in their employ, together with rebellious princes including
Rani of Jhansi, launched the
Indian Rebellion of 1857. However, this uprising was suppressed within a year and marked the end of the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the ...
, which was formally dissolved by the British. After the rebellion, the EIC's territories in India were formally transferred by the
British government to
Crown rule; the EIC dissolved soon after. In 1861, the new British colonial administration established the
Archaeological Survey of India, gradually restoring several important Indian monuments (such as the
Taj Mahal) over the following decades.
To usher in a new era, the British "Raj", a new architectural tradition was sought, marrying the existing styles of India with imported styles from the West, such as
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
(with its sub styles of
French gothic, Venetian-Moorish),
Neoclassical and, later, new styles such as
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
. This produced a number of buildings with mixed influences. By doing this they kept
Indian architecture while adding elements of British and European
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
; this, coupled with the British allowing
regional Indian princes to stay in power under various agreements, made their presence more "palatable" for the Indians. The British attempted to encapsulate
South Asia's past within their new Indic buildings and so represent Britain's Raj as legitimate to the Indian public.
The main building of
Mayo College, completed in 1885, was built in the Indo-Saracenic style. Examples in Chennai include the
Victoria Public Hall,
Madras High Court,
Senate House Senate House may refer to:
* The building housing a legislative senate
** List of legislative buildings
**Senate House State Historic Site, in Kingston, New York, where the state's first Constitution was ratified in 1777.
* The building (formerly) h ...
of the University of Madras, and the
Chennai Central railway station. The building of
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...
as the new imperial capital, which mostly took place between 1918 and 1931, led by
Sir Edwin Lutyens, brought the last flowering of the style, using a deeper understanding of Indian architecture. The
Rashtrapati Bhavan (Viceroy's, then President's Palace) uses elements from Buddhist-era Indian architecture as well as those from later periods. This can be seen in the capitals of the columns and the screen around the drum below the main dome, drawing on the railings placed around ancient
stupas.
In British Malaya
According to Thomas R. Metcalf, a leading scholar of the style, "the Indo-Saracenic, with its imagined past turned to the purposes of British colonialism, took shape outside India
e the subcontinent
E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worl ...
most fully only in Malaya".
British Malaya
The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. ...
was a predominantly Muslim society, where there was hardly any recent tradition of building in brick or stone, with even mosques and the palaces of the local rulers built in the abundant local
hardwoods.
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, sub ...
was only a small settlement when in 1895 the British decided to make it the capital of their new
Federated Malay States; it needed a number of large public buildings. The British decided to use the Islamic style they were used to from India, despite its having little relationship to existing local architectural styles.
Unlike in India, the British also built some palaces for the sultans of the several
states into which modern Malaysia remains divided, and in some places where the population was greatly expanded,
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...
s, such as the
Jamek Mosque and
Ubudiah Mosque
The Ubudiah Mosque ( ms, Masjid Ubudiah) is a small mosque located in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia.
History
The mosque is located beside the Royal Mausoleum on Jalan Istana at Bukit Chandan in Kuala Kangsar.
The mosque ...
. These were both designed by
Arthur Benison Hubback
Arthur Benison Hubback (13 April 1871 – 8 May 1948) was an English architect and soldier who designed several important buildings in British Malaya, in both Indo-Saracenic architecture and European " Wrenaissance" styles. Major works credit ...
, the leading architect in the style between his arrival in 1895 and retirement in 1917, during which it experienced its peak in popularity.
[Mizan Hashim, David (1998). "Indian and Mogul influences on Mosques", '']The Encyclopedia of Malaysia
''The Encyclopedia of Malaysia'' is a multi-volume encyclopedia about Malaysia. To date, 13 volumes of the planned 16-volume series have been published. Each volume deals with a single subject area and is composed of thematic, double-page spreads. ...
'' (Architecture), p. 84–85. The lack of local precedents allowed the English architects to create "an architecture defined purely by
Orientalist fantasy", according to Metcalf, who says Hubback's Ubudiah Mosque (
Kuala Kangsar, 1913) "conjures up nothing less than a Victorian illustrator's fantasy from the ''
Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
''".
Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, the leading figures were English professional architects (whereas in India former soldiers or military engineers were often used) who had never worked in India. Usually they could design in both Indo-Saracenic and European styles. For example, the major buildings by
Regent Alfred John Bidwell, who left his career in London at the age of 34 in 1893 to take a public appointment in Malaysia, include Kuala Lumpur's
Sultan Abdul Samad Building (originally the "Government Offices", 1894), in a free Islamic style, perhaps more Egyptian than Mughal, and with many horseshoe arches. After moving to private practice in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, Bidwell designed the thoroughly European
Raffles Hotel (1899). In Singapore European styles had been the norm since the first British public building there in 1827, both copying
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...
and reflecting a smaller proportion of Muslim
Malays
Malays may refer to:
* Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands
** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas
** Cape Malays, a communit ...
in the population, and the role of the city as a military and trade base. Metcalf notes that despite a large Chinese population, neither in Singapore nor in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
were public buildings with influences from
Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture ( Chinese:中國建築) is the embodiment of an architectural style that has developed over millennia in China and it has influenced architecture throughout Eastern Asia. Since its emergence during the early ancient era, th ...
built in this period.
The Government Offices were the first major British commission in Malaya, and Bidwell had proposed a European style, but was over-ruled by
C. E. Spooner, then State Engineer of the Public Works Department, a military engineer with many years experience in
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, who told those assembled for the opening ceremony "I then decided on the Mahametan style". He did not design buildings himself, but was a key figure in approving designs. The commission brought together Spooner,
A.C. Norman
Arthur Charles Alfred Norman (1858-1944), often referred to as A. C. Norman, was a British architect who was active in Malaya at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 20th century. Some of the most important colonial era buildings of ...
, Bidwell, and the newly arrived Hubback (from 1895).
[Metcalf][Gullick, John Michael (1998). "The British 'Raj' style ", '']The Encyclopedia of Malaysia
''The Encyclopedia of Malaysia'' is a multi-volume encyclopedia about Malaysia. To date, 13 volumes of the planned 16-volume series have been published. Each volume deals with a single subject area and is composed of thematic, double-page spreads. ...
'' (Architecture), p. 82–83. The building's construction inspired additional civic buildings in the vicinity to be built in a similar style, while the style's elements would see more limited adoption among private buildings in Malaya. However artificial a creation the Malayan British Islamic style is, it is noticeable that most major public buildings survive long after
Malayan independence
The Malayan Declaration of Independence (Malay: ''Pemasyhuran Kemerdekaan Tanah Melayu'' Jawi: ڤمشهوران کمرديکان تانه ملايو), was officially proclaimed on Saturday, 31 August 1957, by Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first chief ...
in 1957 and the
formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...
of
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
in 1963, remaining well-cared for on their prime city sites, many re-purposed as their original functions are now carried out in more modern buildings elsewhere.
File:Kuala Kangsar, Masjid Ubaidullah Mosque - panoramio.jpg, Ubudiah Mosque
The Ubudiah Mosque ( ms, Masjid Ubudiah) is a small mosque located in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia.
History
The mosque is located beside the Royal Mausoleum on Jalan Istana at Bukit Chandan in Kuala Kangsar.
The mosque ...
(Hubback, 1913), Kuala Kangsar, Perak
File:Victoria Clock Tower Penang Dec 2006 001.jpg, Jubilee Clock Tower in George Town, Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Ma ...
File:2016 Kuala Lumpur, Narodowe Muzeum Włókiennictwa.jpg, National Textile Museum
The National Textile Museum ( ms, Muzium Tekstil Negara) is a museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The museum is open daily from 9am to 6pm, admission fees started from RM2 to RM5.
It is adjacent to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.
History
De ...
in Kuala Lumpur, by Hubback, 1905. Originally as offices for the Federated Malay States Railways
The Federated Malay States Railways (FMSR) was a consolidated railway operator in British Malaya (present day Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) during the first half of the 20th century. Named after the then recently formed Federated Malay S ...
.
File:Old High Court Building, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 20070303.jpg, The Old High Court Building in Kuala Lumpur
File:Old City Hall, Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur.jpg, Old Kuala Lumpur Town Hall, Hubback, 1896-1904
File:Jamekmosque_KL.JPG, Jamek Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, by Hubback
File:2016 Kuala Lumpur, Siedziba główna Keretapi Tanah Melayu (01).jpg, Railway Administration Building, Kuala Lumpur
File:Kellie's Castle.jpg, Kellie's Castle, Batu Gajah
Batu Gajah (population 133,422) is a municipality in Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the capital of Kinta District.
Etymology
The name ''Batu Gajah'' in Malay means "elephant rock", it is presumably derived from two large boulders (' ...
, Perak
Examples
India
File:Mumbai 03-2016 31 Gateway of India.jpg, The Gateway of India
File:Taj Mahal Palace.JPG, The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai
File:Southern Railway HQ.jpg, Southern Railway Headquarters, Chennai
File:Mysore Palace Morning.jpg, Mysore Palace
File:Egmore Museum building.jpeg, The National Art Gallery (Chennai)
File:Victoria Public Hall, Chennai.JPG, Victoria Public Hall in Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
File:Senate House (University of Madras).jpg, Senate House (University of Madras)
The Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of Madras in Chennai, India. It is situated in Wallajah Road, along Marina Beach. Constructed by Robert Chisholm between 1874 and 1879, Srinivasachari, p 341 the Senate buildin ...
File:Mumbai General Post Office.jpg, Mumbai GPO, reminiscent of the Gol Gumbaz
File:Khalsacollege 3.jpg, Khalsa College, Amritsar
File:Daly College, Indore.jpg, Daly College
The Daly College is a co-educational residential and day boarding school located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was founded by Sir Henry Daly of the British Indian Army during India's colonial British Raj, following an English public scho ...
, Indore
File:ChepaukPalace1.jpg, Chepauk Palace, Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
File:Kachiguda Railway Station Hyderabad.jpg, Kachiguda Railway Station, Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
File:Charbagh Lucknow Railway Station.jpg, Lucknow Charbagh Railway Station
File:Raj Bhavan 3.jpg, Raj Bhavan (backview), Kolkata
File:Howrah Railway Station 04.jpg, Howrah Railway Station
File:Palace of Trivandrum.jpg, Kowdiar Palace, Kerala
File:Napier Museum & Art Gallery, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.JPG, Napier Museum
The Napier Museum is an art and natural history museum situated in Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The Museum is grounds to the Trivandrum Zoo, one of the oldest zoological gardens in India. The zoo was established in 1857 over of land. It al ...
, Kerala
Bangladesh
File:Ahsan Manzil - Dhaka.jpg, Ahsan Manzil 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 ...
File:Curzon Hall Panorama.jpg, Curzon Hall 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 ...
File:Tajhat Palace (01).jpg, Tajhat Palace in Rangpur
File:Natore Rajbari MG 5104.jpg, Natore Rajbari
File:Rose Garden Old Dhaka.jpg, Rose Garden Palace
File:Uttara Ganabhaban Natore.jpg, Uttara Gonobhaban
The Uttara Ganabhaban ( bn, উত্তরা গণভবন, Uttora Gonobhobon, Northern People's House) is an 18th-century (1734) royal palace also known as Dighapatia Palace ( bn, দিঘাপতিয়া রাজবাড়ী, Digh ...
File: Murapara Rajbari (Palace), Bangladesh.jpg, Murapara Rajbari
File:Puthia Palace 2.jpg, Puthia Rajbari
File:Choto Sardar Bari(Panam City) (6).jpg, Bangladesh Folk Arts and Crafts Foundation
File:Chittagong Court Building Full View.jpg, Chittagong Court Building
Chittagong Court Building is a historic court house in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
History
Construction was started in 1892 and was completed in 1898. It was built on the top of the hill Parir Pahar (Fairy's Hill). The building was built in the Indo- ...
Pakistan
File:Lahore Museum, Lahore.jpg, Lahore Museum, Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...
File:KMC Headoffice day view.JPG, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Building, Karachi, 1927-30
File:Punjab university Art & Design Dept.jpg, University of the Punjab, Lahore
File:Sadiq Dane High School.jpg, Sadiq Dane High School, Bahawalpur
File:King Edward Medical University.jpg, Patiala Block of King Edward Medical University
King Edward Medical University (KEMU) () is a public medical university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1860, the university is named after King Edward VII.
Established by the British Raj, named as Lahore Medical School. ...
, Lahore
File:Karachi Chamber of Commerce.jpg, Karachi Chamber of Commerce Building
File:DARBAR MAHAL BAHAWAL PUR.jpg, Darbar Mahal, Bahawalpur
File:Clock Tower - Ghanta Ghar, Multan - Multan Pakistan.jpg, Multan Clock Tower, Multan
File:Hindu Gymkhana Karachi.jpeg, National Academy of Performing Arts, Karachi
United Kingdom
File:2016 Sezincote House.jpg, Sezincote House, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, 1805
File:Brighton Royal Pavilion.jpg, Royal Pavilion in Brighton, 1815–23
File:Western Pavilion, Western Terrace, Brighton (IoE Code 481454).jpg, Western Pavilion in Brighton, 1828, designed by Amon Henry Wilds as his own home
File:Elephant Tea Rooms.jpg, Elephant Tea Rooms, Sunderland, 1877
File:Sassoon Mausoleum.jpg, Sassoon Mausoleum, now a chic Brighton supper club, 1892
Sri Lanka
File:SL Colombo asv2020-01 img22 Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque.jpg, Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque in Colombo
File:Public_Library,_Jaffna.JPG, Jaffna Public Library in Jaffna
File:Clock_tower,_Jaffna.JPG, Jaffna Clock Tower
Jaffna Clock Tower ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணம் மணிக்கூட்டுக் கோபுரம் ''Yāḻppāṇam Maṇikkūṭṭuk Kōpuram'') is a clock tower in the city of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. It is one of the ...
in Jaffna
Elsewhere
File:Original Honkan of the Tokyo National Museum.jpg, Original Honkan, Tokyo National Museum, by Josiah Conder, largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1923
File: Palais du bardo Paris.jpg, Palais du Bardo, parc Montsouris, Paris
Notes
References
*Das, Pradip Kumar, ''Henry Irwin and the Indo Saracenic Movement Reconsidered'', 2014, , 9781482822694
google books*Jayewardene-Pillai, Shanti, ''Imperial Conversations: Indo-Britons and the Architecture of South India'', 2007, , 9788190363426
google books*Mann, Michael, "Art, Artefacts and Achitecture" Chapter 2 in ''Civilizing Missions in Colonial and Postcolonial South Asia: From Improvement to Development'', Editors: Carey Anthony Watt, Michael Mann, 2011, Anthem Press, , 9781843318644
google books*Metcalf, Thomas R., ''Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860–1920'', 2007, University of California Press, , 9780520933330
google books
Further reading
*Metcalf, Thomas R., ''An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain's Raj'', 1989, University of California Press, , 9780520062351
{{Revivals
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