JOIN USFrom Residency to regal guest house
Every morning, scores of Mysureans walk into the vast grounds of the Government House. Walking determinedly towards health, they stride past and around a stately old bungalow in the garden. This bungalow, one among Mysuru’s oldest colonial buildings, is more than 220 years old.
Designed by Captain (later Colonel) Mark Wilks, Acting Resident in the Mysore kingdom, the building was formerly the Residency. When its construction began in 1800, it had been a year since Tipu Sultan’s death. Six-year-old Krishnaraja Wadiyar III had been on the throne for just a few months. Yet, for a building that was a locus of power, the Residency was relatively small.
That changed when Sir John Malcolm was appointed Resident. The story goes that when Sir John got married in 1807, he gifted his bride a banquet hall. He brought in Captain Thomas Fiott de Havilland of the Madras Pioneers to design a grand hall. De Havilland, who liked experimenting with construction techniques, came up with what was then the largest room in southern India that had no pillars supporting the roof.
The magnificent hall — long, large and semicircular at one end — was appended to the southern end of the Residency. Photographs from the 1860s show windows with semicircular fanlights opening out onto the gardens at the curved end. Some time later, these windows were replaced by large doors. A pillared corridor was added that shielded the room from the direct glare of the sun.
Other additions happened over the years so that the Residency grew into a rambling bungalow of several rooms and levels. The modest building designed by Wilks now looked decidedly monumental and spoke the architecture of power. Visitors would have been suitably overawed by the imposing entrance arch and the long drive that led to the mansion. Alighting from their carriage in the three-bayed, trellised porte cochere, they would have noted the dimensions of the verandah, its massive pillars and its high ceilings. Past the cavernous drawing rooms, they would come upon a landscaped courtyard surrounded by a Tuscan-columned arcade. And beyond this, Lady Malcolm’s unusual wedding gift.
Meetings and merriment
In its heyday, the house, and especially the banquet hall, were witness to many meetings and much merriment involving royals, viceroys and other distinguished folks. Today, the erstwhile banquet hall serves as a conference room. Long tables stretch interminably from one end to the other, waiting for officials who sometimes stay at the building. High above is the famous, unsupported roof — a flat, Madras terrace from which chandeliers and ancient-looking fans are hung.
The Residency, later also called Government House, suffered a demotion in the 1880s, when the then Resident James Gordon moved his abode and offices to a different building. Government House, now called Lower Residency, was used to house the Sessions Court, the Representative Assembly and also some of the Maharaja’s European guests.
To step into Government House is to step back in time. Except for modern lighting and new tiles which have replaced the old flooring in many places, the guest rooms look as they might have looked a century ago. Old and faded paintings and an occasional hunting trophy grace the walls. Pairs of pikes stand near a door, as if ready to be picked up and wielded in battle. The furniture comprises four-poster beds, rosewood armoires, hatstands, dressing tables, and grand desks of teak and rosewood. Perhaps Wilks wrote the early drafts of his tome History of the South India or John Malcolm his book History of Persia, while sitting at one of these very desks!
Today, Government House is a state guest house, accommodating visiting officials and other government guests. There are 15 large guest rooms, besides offices, meeting rooms, dining rooms, stores and a kitchen.
Government House is set amidst a 50-acre garden, about half of what it was originally. With well-laid paths, cast-iron lamp posts, fountains and benches, these grounds are extremely popular with morning walkers. From being a seat of power that would have been off limits to all but the most powerful in the land, it is a delight to see this heritage property now being used by the public every single day, even if most of them spare nary a glance for the storied bungalow!