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| Heritage-Architecture-Mysore city corporation Building.dreamstime.com |
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| .Mysore city corporation building, Mysore wikiwand.com |
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| Mysore city corporation building, Mysore |
Above image: Mysore City Corporation, 1924. Architecture style adopted: Indo-Saracenic style; note the tall arches, arched windows, minarets, dome features, chhatris atop the structure..........
The princely town of Mysore, though got a body to manage and run the administration of the Municipality way back in 1862 it did not have a building on its own to take of the various departments related to the municipal affairs under one roof. I ill luck would have it, the Civic body had to wait for six .long decades to have a building with various departments under one roof. When the building exclusively for its municipal affairs came up in 1920s, the design was so unique and impressive, it gave Mysore a lasting landmark.
Now, a declared monument, the Mysore City Corporation building has been functioning since 1924 when it was completed. What is special about the building is, I believe, it was one of the oldest and early building in Mysore designed in Indo- Saracenic architecture a new concept introduced by the British Architect Robert Chisholm (1840 – 1915) who had joined the Madras Presidency in 1865 when Lord Francis Napier was the Governor between 1866 to 1872. Chisholm carefully blended the European architectural elements with those of the native styles - Hindu and Islamic, such as domes, minarets, arches, chhatris, etc. The total cost of construction of the building in 1924 was around is 5 lakhs, indeed, a huge sum.
The MCC double-storey building has continuous verandahs on either side, arched openings and pilasters. The facade of the building has a front portico with Byzantine arches, two minarets and a pair of chhatris on either side; their elevation is 100-feet .
When the Municipal officials were on the look out of a suitable site for the proposed building for the Civic body on its own, finally their choice fell on a spacious land located across the fort. The administrators also made up their choice to house the Mysore Palace administrative office on the periphery of the fort.
Thus the two structures were planned in the same place at the same time and Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar launched the works on the two buildings on the same day, January 24, 1921. The two utilitarian buildings stand as a symbol of the taste the administrators had on their mind when they planned the needed infrastructure for the use of public.
It is quite interesting to note the municipality was functioning in the Rangacharlu Memorial Hall that was built in late 1880s in memory of the Diwan who made a niche for himself in the area of administrative efficiency. The state government was in the process of merging the MUDA into MCC to create Mysore metropolitan planning committee for better management. The two bodies responsible for the city's civic issues were once housed in the same building - the Town Hall and moved over to the MCC when it was .it was completed.
Tit-bits:
Way back in the past the Mysore Area task force, in association with with the Mysore Chapter of the Indian Institute of Architects, had identified the heritage sites in the city and the list included Attara Kacheri, the Deputy Commissioner's office, the Mysore Palace and surrounding areas, Devaraja Market, Railway Divisional Office building, K.R. Hospital building, Lansdowne building, the Oriental Research Institute, Crawford Hall, K.R. Circle, and Jaganmohan Palace Such heritage monuments that connect the present with the past need to be taken care of care on a regular basic. With shortage of manpower and poor fund allocation the ASI and the other departments fail to maintain the properly. The government must step it and initially such heritage sites must be barricaded and protected from anti-social people, hooligans and trespassers.
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