More often than not the impressive colonial buildings in India built in honor of colonial officers either under the EIC's rule or under the Raj are invariably iconic structures built in European architecture. Funny thing is after decades of India's independence, these structures have become forgotten places of colonial legacy; so are the colonial officers in whose honor they were built. We have neither seen the images of such officers nor have we read about their contribution to India. One good example is the Mayo memorial Hall in Bangalore.
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| Mayo Memorial Hall, Bangalore. so.city |
Above image: Mayo Memorial Hall, Bangalore: One of the most impressive colonial buildings in the prime area of the city its interior is equally dazzling with fancy furniture, Italian chandeliers, and wooden floors, A lasting memorial to Lord Mayo, 4th Viceroy of India, who was a good administrator and a kind-hearted person. in terms of history of formation and survival. the cost of construction was met with public subscription- from the rich elite Indians and Europeans living in Bangalore city. Initially, the ground floor had the Municipal Office for the Cantonment, several public offices and law courts. Civil cases from minor traffic offences such as 'double-riding' on bicycles to the more serious ones were tried here. It was also the place for 'registered marriages' The upper floor was designed for important 'Public meetings and Exhibitions...................................
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| 1878-79Bangalore. Mayo memorial Hall bangaloretourism.org |
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| .Mayo Memorial Hall, Bangalore.google.com |
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| Bangalore Mayo Memorial Hall. placeforvacations.com |
Soon after the assassination Viceroy and Governor General of India Lord Mayo (conservative party politician hailing from Dublin, Ireland) at Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands in February 1872, over a period of time Memorials came up in some places in India. There is a famous colonial building in Bangalore called Mayo Memorial Hall which is richly ornamental and strikingly beautiful colonial structure located in a prominent place next to the Public utility building in Bangalore. It is made of bricks and lime-sand mortar. Located on a hill, it over looks the Ulsoor lake, Parade Grounds and Bangalore race Course.
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| Mayo memorial Hall, Bangalore, Karnataka. |
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| Renovated Mayo Hall, Bangalore. gettyimages.co.uk |
The princely state of Mysore that had a good rapport and harmonious relationship with the British India Government reacted to the unfortunate killing of the highest official on duty while on a trip to the penal settlement The princely state officials formed a committee to have a fitting memorial worthy of Lord Mayo (the fourth Governor General of India; educated at trinity College, Dublin) built in Bangalore city. To meet the cost of construction of an impressive Public Hall, it received donations from Indians and also from Europeans living in the Mysore kingdom.
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| Gov.Gen.of India Lord Mayo gettyimages.in |
Built in Renaissance Revival-style architecture the Mayo Memorial Hall, a two-story structure at the junction of Residency Road and M.G. Road, has strikingly beautiful façade and ornate windows. The attractions are: Tuscan pillars, quality wooden flooring. Italian chandeliers, beautiful pieces of furniture, artistic furnishings, Greek cornices, key stoned arches, balustrade ledges, beautiful consoles etc. The exterior wall is painted in red color. The building has two main entrances. Each porch has three well shaped wooden arches.
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| Lord mayo memorial Hall, Bangalore. bangaloretourism.org |
First-floor windows are just eye-catching and has either a triangular or arched pediment, with moldings supported on curved consoles or well-fixed brackets decorated with acanthus leaves. Each window is framed by decorative pilasters, a small floral scroll on top, and a balustraded ledge below. On the other hand the ground floor windows have a different look. They have flat roof simple pilasters and unpretentious consoles. Yet another unique feature is the division between floors is accentuated by a belt course decorated with a Greek meander. Apparently it was a popular geometric motif in Western art.
A peculiarity about this building is the unusual combination of flat and slanting roofs. For the slanting roof, “timber trusses support the false ceiling of embossed metal sheets that you can see on the first floor. As for flat Madras terrace roof, thick timber beams and rafters form the framework,” according to , INTACH architects.
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| Architect R.H. Sankey.en.wikipedia.org |
The architect of the building was Sir Richard Hieram Sankey KCB (22 March 1829 – 11 November 1908; was an officer in the Royal (Madras) Engineers in the East India Company's army in British India. Sankey also designed the Museum, Attara Kacheri (now High Court) and St. Andrew’s Church, etc. The reason why he chose the neo-Renaissance or Renaissance Revival style is it was quite popular then.
When the construction work was on the memorial committee, then there, faced financial crunches and at one stage the work came to a stop. The amount Rs.25000 collected through donation was not good enough. Considering the style of the design plus ever-increasing cost of construction work ''funds'' became a bottle neck and it would cost almost double that to complete the building. Despite the odds and hurdles on the way, the building work was completed in 1883. Thanks to the efforts made by the Municipal Commission of the Civil and Military Station (as the Cantonment area was known then) who took over the project and met all the costs. At a grand function in 1883 Mayo Hall was commissioned by the then British resident stationed in that kingdom. .
Presently the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), BMP record room and a traffic court are functioning there. Earlier the offices of the C and M municipality occupied the lower floor. This memorial hall, considering its prime location, for a pretty long time served as the Public hall. A little known fact is the upper floor of the hall was was made ‘available to the public for all meetings of a public nature free of any charge. ’This hall saw several important public meeting including the one addressed by the Irish iron lady Annie Besant and others.
In 2011, the upper floor was converted into a Museum Kempe Gowda. For unknown reasons it stopped functioning later. In the place where Mayo Memorial was built, in the 1870s, there stood a structure that housed library and a decrepit theatre. Then MG Road was called South Parade. It is said memorials such as the Mayo Hospital, and the Mayo School of Arts at Lahore (in Pakistan) got inspiration from the Memorial Hall at Bangalore.
.https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/splendour-for-a-public-purpose/article29531730.ece
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