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which resulted in a dispute with Baker. After completion, Lutyens argued with Baker, because the view of the
front of the building was obscured by the high angle of
The Rashtrapati Bhavan pronunciation , Presidential Residence) is the ocial home of the President of the road.
India, located in New Delhi, Delhi, India. It may refer to only the mansion (the 340-room main building)
that has the Presidents ocial residence, halls, guest
rooms and oces; it may also refer to the entire 130
hectare (320 acre) President Estate that additionally includes huge presidential gardens (Mughal Gardens), large
open spaces, residences of bodyguards and sta, stables,
other oces and utilities within its perimeter walls. The
main palace building was formerly known as Viceroys
House. In terms of area, it is the largest residence of a
Head of State in the world.
History
2 ARCHITECTURE DESIGNS
Lutyens campaigned for its xing, but was not able to get
it to be changed. Lutyens wanted to make a long inclined
grade all the way to Viceroys House with retaining walls
on either side. While this would give a view of the house
from further back, it would also cut through the square
between the secretariat buildings. The committee with
Lutyens and Baker established in January 1914 said the
grade was to be no steeper than 1 in 25, though it eventually was changed to 1 in 22, a steeper gradient which
made it more dicult to see the Viceroys palace. While
Lutyens knew about the gradient, and the possibility that
the Viceroys palace would be obscured by the road, it is
thought that Lutyens did not fully realise how little the
front of the house would be visible. In 1916 the Imperial Delhi committee dismissed Lutyenss proposal to alter the gradient. Lutyens thought Baker was more concerned with making money and pleasing the government,
rather than making a good architectural design.
Lutyens travelled between India and England almost every year for twenty years, to work on the building of
Viceroys House in both countries. Lutyens had to reduce
the building size from 13,000,000 cubic feet (370,000
m3 ) to 8,500,000 cubic feet (240,000 m3 ) because of the
budget restrictions of Lord Hardinge. While he had demanded that costs be reduced, he nevertheless wanted the Rashtrapati Bhawan central dome
house to retain a certain amount of ceremonial grandeur.
When Chakravarti Rajagopalachari assumed the oce
as the rst Governor General of India and became the
occupant of this building he preferred to stay in a few
rooms which is now the family wing of the President and
converted the then Viceroys apartments to be the Guest
Wing where the Heads of State of other countries stay
during their visit to India.
On 26 January 1950, when Rajendra Prasad became the
rst President of India and occupied this building, it was
renamed as Rashtrapati Bhavan - the Presidents House.
2
2.1
Architecture designs
Design
4 MUGHAL GARDENS
this room and almost all the rooms of the palace are bare,
relying on stonework and shapes to show austerity rather
than intricate decoration. In the hall, the columns are
made in Delhi Order which combines vertical lines with
the motif of a bell. The vertical lines from the column
were also used in the frieze around the room, which could
not have been done with one of the traditional Greek orders of columns. The hall has a 2-ton chandelier which
hangs from a 33-metre height. The two state drawing
rooms, the state supper room and the state library are
each on the four corners of the hall. There are also other
rooms such as many loggias (galleries with open air on
one side) which face out into the courtyards, a large dining hall with an extremely long table, sitting rooms, billiards rooms, and a large ball room, and staircases. Water features are also throughout the palace, such as near
the Viceroys stairs, which has eight marble lion statues
spilling water into six basins. These lions were symbolic
of the heraldry of Great Britain. There is also an open
area in one room to the sky, which lets in much of the
natural light.
3.1
Dome
building.
The height of the dome was increased by Lord Hardinge
in the plan of the building in 1913. The dome combines classical and Indian styles. Lutyens said the design
evolved from that of the Pantheon in Rome, while it is
also possible that it was modeled partly after the great
Stupa at Sanchi. The dome is supported by evenly spaced
columns which form a porch with open area between the
columns. In the New Delhi summer heat haze this gives
an impression of the dome being aoat. The reinforced
concrete shell of the outer dome began to be formed at
the beginning of 1929. The last stone of the dome was
laid on 6 April 1929.
4 Mughal Gardens
This is situated at the back of the Rashtrapati Bhavan,
incorporate both Mughal and English landscaping styles
and feature a great variety of owers. The Rashtrapati
Bhavan gardens are open to the public in February every
year.
Rashtrapati Bhavan
illuminated for Indian Republic Day
Terrace garden: There are two longitudinal strips of garden, at a higher level on each side of the Main Garden, forming the Northern and Southern boundaries. The
plants grown are the same as in the Main Garden. At the
centre of both of the strips is a fountain, which falls inwards, forming a well. On the Western tips are located
two gazebos and on the Eastern tips two ornately designed
5
sentry posts.
Long Garden or the 'Purdha Garden': This is located
to the West of the Main Garden, and runs along on
each side of the central pavement which goes to the
circular garden. Enclosed in walls about 12 feet high,
this is predominantly a rose garden. It has 16 square
rose beds encased in low hedges. There is a red sandstone pergola in the centre over the central pavement
which is covered with Rose creepers, Petrea, Bougainvillea and Grape Vines. The walls are covered with creepers like Jasmine, Rhyncospermum, Tecoma Grandiora,
Bignonia Vanista, Adenoclyma, Echitice, Parana Paniculata. Along the walls are planted the China Orange trees.
Around the circular garden there are rooms for the oce
of the horticulturist, a green house, stores, nursery etc.
Here is housed the collection of Bonsais, one of the best
in the country.
All the presidents who have stayed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan have taken a keen interest in the maintenance and
upkeep of the Mughal Gardens. All have contributed in
their own way. The underlying themes, however, have
remained unaltered.
4.1
Udyanotsav
8 References
[1] Kahn, Jeremy (30 December 2007). Art & Design.
Amnesty Plan for Relics of the Raj (Report). The New
York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2012. He also invented
his own Delhi Order of neo-Classical columns that fuse
Greek and Indian elements.
[2] Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President of India. Retrieved
2011-12-23.
[3] New Delhi villagers seek compensation 100 years after
being evicted by Raj. The Daily Telegraph. 4 August
2011.
[4] Hussey, Christopher (1953). The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens. Antique Collectors Club. ISBN 0-907462-59-6.
[5] Lucy Peck; INTACH (2005). Delhi, a thousand years
of building. The Lotus Collection, Roli Books. p. 276.
ISBN 978-81-7436-354-1.
[6] Lutyens Legacy. Forbes. 07.02.07. Check date values
in: |date= (help)
[7] Rashtrapati Bhavan Rashtrapati Bhavan Delhi, Presidents House New Delhi India. Iloveindia.com. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
Museum
Restoration
See also
Pranab Mukherjee
Rashtrapati Nilayam
The Retreat Building
Gradidge, R. (1981). Edwin Lutyens, Architect Laureate, George Allen & Unwin, London.
Irving, Robert Grant (1981). Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker, and Imperial Delhi. Yale University
Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02422-7.
Aman Nath; Amit Mehra (2002). Dome over India:
Rashtrapati Bhavan. India Book House.
External links
President of India: Rashtrapati Bhavan, Ocial
website
http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~{}bagchi/delhi/writing/
lutyens.html
She does Chandigarh proud, Research on Rashtrapati Bhavan architecture
Tensions Manifested: Reading the Viceroys House
in New Delhi, by Aseem Inam, book chapter in
The Emerging Asian City: Concomitant Urbanities
and Urbanisms (edited by Vinayak Bharne and published by Routledge UK, 2012)
EXTERNAL LINKS
10
10.1
10.2
Images
10.3
Content license