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A friend who is an architect and I visited Mangalore the other day on an assignment. During our movement across the city We found great changes since our last visit which was nearly a decade ago. Mangalore then was hardly visible
above the coconut trees and there was hardly any stoppage of the vehicle at the round abouts and crossing. Now, there are many multi-strayed buildings, grey cement columns and roofs punctures in the once earthy crimson Mangalore tiles cape and minor traffic jams at the crossings He, being an architect and I being an Engineer, our discussion veered round to rapid changes taking place in building construction. We also entered in a game of wits to guess the year of construction
of the buildings
that passed
by as our taxi moved.
This article is fallout of that incident.
Someone has said that the discoveries and the inventions that have taken place
during the last
century have
outclassed all those, which took place from the dawn of civilization to previous century. The changes in building construction and
architecture too have progressed on the same line. The important buildings built prior to Muslim invasion that have survived are temples and stupas. They are made of mainly walls of bricks or stone, carrying beam and slab, with beam either of stone or wood and slab either of wood or stone. Muslims introduced vaults and domes. Before the advent of Europeans
conquest
of India the construction was based on Hindu and the Indo Sarcenic architecture.
The latter barrowed heavily from Persian architecture and practices. Humayun's Tomb in Delhi is a good example of it. Europeans introduced Greeco
Roman architecture. The architecture was Neoclassical (renaissance), Gothic or aroque. In 1800 AD, the architecture of public buildings was mainly European. Mr. T.P. Issar, a keen chronicler of (The Attara Kacheri, the present High Courtof Karnataka and LalitMahal palace in Mysore are the example ofpure Renaissance.) buildings,
in his
coffee table book "Royal City - Mysore" states European-Classical held a long spell in the nineteenth century, as a "fashionable vogue." The reason was that after the slaying of Tippu Sultan, even though the state was handed over to Hindu Raja, the British residents, Commissioners or the Royal Tutors had not yet learnt to appreciate our own environment friendly architecture. They straight away opted for a "Bit of Back Home.
The Attara Kacheri, the present High Court of Karnataka and Lalit Mahal palace in Mysore are the example of pure Renaissance architecture. The construction in this era was dominated by massive brick walls built in lime mortar, Jack arch or Madras terrace, smooth lime plaster, Columns, Doric, Ionic or Corinthian, mostly rounded and smooth. Madras terrace consumed vast quantities of wood. The pediment and entablature were the part of Gables and as concessions to Native state the state emblem - the twin headed eagle, found a place in them. The floors were either lime concrete or granite and less important rooms were even paved with bricks. These were the heydays of Lime, an excellent material without the problem of heat or hydration and appearance of cracks, which is inherent in the use of cement.
Many things were mixed in lime mortar like milk, egg yolk, sugar, some oils, etc to make it strong like stone and durable. A
term, which was in use, was "Vajra Gare - a mortar as hard as diamond." Author in his younger day has seen labourers with long iron jumpers sweating profusely in vain trying to demolish floor made of Vajragare. Spark used to fly at the place of impact. Unfortunately the art seems to have been lost. The super rich (or the filthy rich as they are maligned) employed European architects who followed the Renaissance architecture with a few concessions here and there to adjust to the usage habits of the clients. Other rich Indians, Europeans traders and professional managers of the Europeans business
firms adopted Bungalow concept for their housing. Bungalow, a typical innovation for
the tropics by the Europeans, has its origin in the humble hut of a rural
Bengalee.
The mudwalls, the thatch roof and verandah kept the inside cool. A typical
bungalow we found in Cantonment some time ago (alas, most of them have been demolished to make way
for apartment blocks and commercial complexes), had a large open compound, a main structure, a
service structure and servant's quarters. The main structure was advantageously
placed in garden. A manicured lawn came up at the front. Sometimes
a portico for the carriage to stop was also added.The main structure housed
Drawing and Dining and Bed Room for master and madam, one or two guest rooms
with attached bathrooms. The earliest bathrooms were just a hand washbasin, a
towel rack, a pot (a commode) and a tub. Children were in Boarding Schools back
home or in the hills. Kitchen, stores and preparation room made up the
service structure
The servant's quarters way back in the
compound could be anything from 3 to 10 one room mud huts built in a row with
low roof country
tiled and mud floor. The retinue of servants
depended how big the burrah saheb was. It consisted of Butler, A Cook, his help, a Dhobi, a Barber, a
Gardner, a Horse Boy, a Carriage Attendant, a Nanny and a Sweeper The main
structure had an imposing entrance supported by rounded or fluted columns, leading to the
hall, 15ft high. The structure was enveloped with 8 to 10 ft wide verandah with a lesser
height of 10 to 12 ft. The intervening length of the main hall was full of
glazed ventilator operated with the help of ropes tied to pegs embedded at convenient
height. It was the duty of the
servant to open or close the ventilators at the call of the family. The servant also
doubled as a punkba puller before the advent of electricity and ceiling fan. The clere storey height
and the verandahs were to keep the direct sunlight and roof radiation away. The bathrooms were as
big as perhaps
the main rooms with
sanitary fittings and bathtubs and tiles imported from Europe. A concession was the
decorative vases, which
could be from China.
The predominantcolour was white, lime wash. The verandahs of the very big sahibs had flat
roof but those of smaller ones, sloping Mangalore tiled which did add some earthy color
to the bungalow. The bungalow concept became so popular that it spread far and
wide in the
English, French and Dutch colonies and was adopted as far as in Australia and Dutch East Indies. One distinctive feature 'of the bungalows of.
English, French and Dutch colonies and was adopted as far as in Australia and Dutch East Indies. One distinctive feature 'of the bungalows of.
Bangalore was "Monkey Top" on windows in place of sunshade or balcony
on brackets. It has shape of an inverted V, titled but at the front there was an elaborate
trelliswork wooden slots some times with motifs of fruits like a bunch of
grapes. A pointed crest completed the construction. The name
is derived probably by the fact that monkeys found it convenient to hold slots
and frolic.
The native merchants, mostly from Vysya community were
conservative and stuck to vernacular architecture ie.East facing, a verandah at
the front, followed by a hall, a thotti mane, a closed court yard with women's' quarters,
kitchen etc. at the back. They were so particular about some aspects like East
facing that they placed the house exactly as directed by the astrologer sometimes
skewed to the main road
bulbous at the bottom with lotus motive and ornamental
brackets supported the wooden board of the first floor. Thedoors were massive, carved hung on pimple hinges. The front
and the back doors were locked from inside with a massive flat iron latched
to an iron ring on chow hat. These doors opened once in the morning were rarely closed
before nightfall. The stairs were wooden, open and steep. A
rope hung from ceiling to hold and negotiate climbing. The green
dominated the color for the columns and pale brown-cashew oil
color for the beam and the roof boards and rafters. The
Brahmins quarters were U shaped layouts of row houses called
"Agrahar." The city of Mysore has quite a few of.
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