Heritage Palace Narain Niwas, Jaipur - a building with nice ambiance

Narain Niwas palace. Jaipur .hotelnarainniwas.com

Jaipur, Narain Niwas Palace hotel. architecturaldigest.com/

Above image:  The Narain Niwas Palace in Jaipur,  Built in 1928 as a country retreat for General Amar Singh, it has since been converted into a hotel. it is  designed by Marie-Anne Oudejans in a palette of energizing azure-blue and white.......................

Narain Niwas palace.Heritage Hotels,Heritage Hotels Jaipur,

Built in 1928 by General Amar Singh, Thakur of Kanota & Commander of the erstwhile Jaipur State Force and a confidant of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh  Narain Niwas Palace is nice building designed in the Anglo-Indian style popular in the Victorian era.  General Amar Singh was the grandson of Thakur Zorawar Singh, founder of the Kanota family. It was Thakur Sivnath Singh, General Amar Singhji's brother who  took care of the construction work as it was a tedious undertaking done with meticulous care worthy of their prestige. The new mansion was aptly named after their father, Thakur Narain Singh, who was the  Chief of Police in the erstwhile Jaipur State, besides being   a minister in the neighboring princely state of Alwar. It is in the center of Jaipur city, haven for tourists.

Narain Niwas palace. Jaipur elisehanna.com

 The palace was built not for regular residence and was used  Amar Singh to spend his time during breaks from his administrative and other works that kept him busy. Hence  it was more of a country side palace than a palace in a town. His stay here was mainly for relaxation purpose from mundane existence. This was done to carry on his duties with better vigor and vitality.  The Kanota family's Haveli within the walled city was his main centre of activities . 

Jaipur,Narain Niwas Palace pinrest.com image:Henry Wilson

Amar Singh built his "garden house"  close to that of Rambagh - yet another  pleasure garden and palace built by Maharajah Ram Singh (1835-1880).  In those days, it was a custom among the rich and noblemen of Jaipur to have a Country House cum palace built for the family members to relax far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. They preferred a quiet and serene place to keep themselves cool. Before WWII, the surrounding area of the Narain Niwas Palace was a thickly wooded area and it provided an ample opportunity for Amar Singh and others to go hunting wild boar, birds, black buck and once in a while panther.
Thakur Amar Singh, apart from being an excellent soldier, administrator and a sportsman of repute, had also cultivated  a good habit of writing diary for a long time -  for 44 years from 1898 to 1942, in 89 folio volumes, 800 pages per volume. It delves into various aspects of Rajput life in princely India in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Since India's independence, countless Royal families' properties were taken over by the Indian government, leaving them with one or two palaces and an annual dole.  Since maintaining such palatial palaces has become a costly affair, much of them  have been converted into Heritage Hotels to maintain the palace and also to meet ex-royal families' expenses. The hotel  with Rajasthani and ethnic furnishings, provides a nice ambiance of past era, and  is being run by the  Kanota Family where the visitors  get a taste of rich Rajasthani culture and unforgettable hospitality in modern context. 
http://www.hotelnarainniwas.com/heritage-hotels.php