President’s Estate gets new look: 2 clock towers, 2 museums ready

NEW DELHI: The

Rashtrapati Bhavan

complex that has 65 different structures has been undergoing major renovation in phases.

Intach Delhi chapter has been collaborating with CPWD for four years on this. Already, conservation of two clock towers has been done and two other buildings have been converted to

museums

.

Completed in 1929, the building was the residence of the Viceroy until India had her first President in 1950. Ever since then, it has hosted 13 occupants of India’s topmost post. The main building has four floors and 340 rooms spread over a floor area of 2,00,000 square feet. It’s made of 700 million bricks and three million cubic feet of stone. It’s a Grade A heritage building, as identified by NDMC.

In January 2013, the

Presidential Secretariat

commissioned Intach to prepare a conservation plan. A plan was draw up and approved, and a roadmap was laid for the future management of the complex.

The conservation plan was divided into two phases: the first one was to focus on

President’s Estate

and the second one on the main Rashtrapati Bhavan. A detailed project report of the latter is in the works.

Ajay Kumar, director (projects) of Intach said they were conserving eight buildings at present. “These are used by the President’s Body Guard and includes the MI Building, the regimental quarter, four barracks and two officers’ mess. “We have used things like lime juice, brick powder, granules, non-salty sand, jaggery and similar things in a paste form to restore the glory of the structures in the President's Estate,” Kumar said, adding that the work would cost around Rs 8-10 crore.

Kumar also lauded the initiative and said it could be expanded to governor houses of other states.

Intach convenor Swapna Liddle called the Rashtrapati Bhavan a “living building” as it has all the modern amenities in use that makes it a challenging task to conserve. “There are several maintenance issues that may crop up. To document all that, to assess the problems, and to suggest solutions, it will take time,” she said.

She added that Intach would conserve the building while being sensitive to its character.