Morgan House Kalimpong or Morgan House is a mansion of

British colonial architecture Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that synthesized the architecture of their ...

built by an English jute baron George Morgan in the 1930s on the hill station of

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

Kalimpong district Kalimpong district is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. Originally known as Dalingkot tehsil, the region was alternatively under the control of Sikkim and Bhutan. In 1865, it was annexed from Bhutan by British India under the Treaty ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. Today, the mansion is a hotel managed by

West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation The West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Limited (WBTDCL) is a state government agency which promotes tourism in West Bengal under Department of Tourism (West Bengal), India. It was incorporated on 29 April 1974 under the Companies Act, ...

(WBTDC). Earlier this property was also known as Singamari Tourist Lodge or Durpin Tourist Lodge.

Location

Morgan House is built on a sixteen acre estate atop the mountain of Durpindara. It is situated three kilometers off the center of Kalimpong town and has a clear view of the

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the T ...

mountain range. The mansion and the estate is surrounded by the Kalimpong Cantonment area and overlooks the valleys of Relli, Kapher, Deolo and Labha in various directions. Morgan House is 75 km from

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

, 52 km from

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

and 75 km from

Gangtok Gangtok is a city, municipality, the capital and the largest populated place of the Indian state of Sikkim. It is also the headquarters of the East Sikkim district, Gangtok District. Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an e ...

by road. Nearest railway station is in

New Jalpaiguri New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station (station code NJP) established in 1960, is an A1 category broad gauge and narrow-gauge railway station under Katihar railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway zone. It is the largest as well as the ...

and nearest airport is in

Pakyong Pakyong is the district headquarters of Pakyong District in the Indian state of Sikkim, located in the foothills of the Himalayas. It holds many Government Offices. Pakyong Airport is the only airport of Sikkim. The "National Research Centre fo ...

History

Morgan house is a British colonial mansion built in the early 1930s. The building was to commemorate the wedding of an indigo plantation owner with a jute baron George Morgan. The property was used as a summer retreat and elaborate parties were hosted. It passed into the hand of trustees after the Morgans died without heir. It was further handed over to

government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

post Indian independence. During 1962, after then prime minister

Jawahar Lal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

was taken ill, plans were made to convert this house into a government rest house. However, due to sudden demise of Jawahar Lal Nehru, this plan was abandoned. In 1965 it was handed to tourism department and in 1975 it was finally handed over to

. Since then it is being managed as a

boutique hotel Boutique hotels are small inventory, design driven, unique hotels with their own character, personality and storytelling at the heart of their concept. Positioning is secondary for these hotels as they focus on authenticity and personalization ...

and is open to tourists.

Popular culture

Indian actors and celebrities such as

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar ( bn, উত্তম কুমার; born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), popularly known as the Mahanayak, was an Indian actor, producer, director, Screenwriter, script writer, composer, and sing ...

, Supriya,

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

Amit Kumar Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, inc ...

Leena Chandavarkar Leena Chandavarkar (born 29 August 1950) is an Indian former actress who appeared in Bollywood movies as a leading actress and now appears in reality shows. She was an actress during the late 60s and early 70s. She played leading heroine opposit ...

Nargis Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she made her screen debut in a minor role ...

Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Dutt; 6 June 1929 — 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director and politician. Dutt was one of the major stars of Hindi cinema in the late 1950s and 1960s and continued to star in many successful film ...

and

Om Prakash Om Prakash (born Om Prakash Chibber 19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu as Om Prakash Chibber and went on to become a well-known character actor of Bollywood. His most well-known movies are Nam ...

have stayed in this lodge and their testimonials can be seen framed in the lounge. Actor

Utpal Dutt Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little The ...

was also a regular visitor. American ambassador in India

Chester Bowles Chester Bliss Bowles (April 5, 1901 – May 25, 1986) was an American diplomat and ambassador, governor of Connecticut, congressman and co-founder of a major advertising agency, Benton & Bowles, now part of Publicis Groupe. Bowles is best known f ...

stayed here. This lodge is also considered to be haunted and has been featured in several lists of haunted lodges and hotels.

Gallery

File:Morgan House Front.jpg, The front of the lodge from the parking area File:Morgan House Kalimpong34.jpg, Stone chimneys File:Morgan House Kalimpong wooden staircase.jpg, Interior wooden staircase File:Morgan House Kalimpong approach road.jpg, The approach road leading to Morgan House File:Morgan House Kalimpong front corner.jpg, Front corner of Morgan House clad with ivy File:Morgan House Kalimpong view of rear glass windows.jpg, Close-up of rear glass windows of Morgan House File:Morgan House Kalimpong 3.jpg, Morgan House at Night from rear lawn File:Morgan House, Kalimpong front View.jpg, Front view of Morgan House from the lawn

References

Bibliography

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External links

* https://www.wbtdcl.com/home/lodge_search?Lodge_id=OA&Lodge_destinationName=Mw * https://www.telegraphindia.com/1040330/asp/siliguri/story_3051029.asp * https://www.telegraphindia.com/1130901/jsp/calcutta/story_17297672.jsp * http://kaluk.in/wbtdc_kalimpong_morgan_house.html {{Portal bar, India, Architecture British colonial architecture in India Tourist attractions in Kalimpong district Houses in India Reportedly haunted locations in India Superstitions of India Houses completed in the 20th century 1930s establishments in British India