Kanika House: Bungalow where Ambedkar lived during drafting of Constitution

New Delhi: An iconic art deco bungalow in the heart of Delhi, which was originally made for the erstwhile princely state of Kanika in Odisha, was the abode of Babasaheb B R Ambedkar when he served as India's first law minister and worked on drafting of the Constitution.

The historic building -- Kanika House -- whose address has changed from 1, Hardinge Avenue to 1, Tilak Marg near India Gate, has witnessed the freedom struggle, the dawn of Independence and the making of the nation's founding document.

Ambedkar, born on this day (April 14) in 1891, lived a life of great struggle and championed the fight against discrimination faced by the Dalit community he belonged to, and rose to become India's first law minister, serving in the Cabinet from 1947-51.

The Constitution was born out of the deliberations held by the Constituent Assembly for a nearly three-year period. It came into effect on January 26, 1950, signifying the birth of the Republic of India.

Ambedkar, a scholar and a legal luminary, is considered the architect of the Constitution, and a large number of statues, parks and memorials spread across the country celebrate the formidable legacy of a man especially revered by the Dalit community.

The Constituent Assembly had its first meeting on December 9, 1946, in the august Central Hall of the old Parliament building. It adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949.

As the law minister, Ambedkar stayed in the Kanika House named after the erstwhile princely state of Kanika.

A lavish Kanika Palace, built by the previous rulers of this estate, still stands in Kendrapara district of Odisha (earlier Orissa) today.

While its neighbours in the India Gate complex area -- the Hyderabad House, Baroda House, Patiala House, Jaipur House, Kota House, Dholpur House, and Bikaner House, among the palatial residences built in Delhi by other princely states -- are very popular, the story of Kanika House and its famed occupant, before it assumed an all-new mantle, is not much known among the masses.

What sets apart the 1, Tilak Marg bungalow is also its striking design -- art deco, an architectural style not often associated with the capital city, despite many specimens of it in old Delhi, and a few in Lutyens' Delhi.

'Deco in Delhi', a digital repository of art deco buildings here, also attempts to narrate the back story of Kanika House using pictures and other archival material sourced from old magazines and publications.

According to a post shared by it on a social media, Kanika House designed by architect Karl Malte von Heinz was built in the 1930s.

'Deco in Delhi' also shared an archival image of Kanika House published in 'The Modern House in India' in the late 1930s.

Another post on the platform shares a monochrome image of the facade of the iconic two-storey art deco bungalow published in 'Indian Concrete Journal' in September 1938.

The caption reads -- "Residence at New Delhi for the Raja Bahadur of Kanika, O.B.E." and "Architects: Messrs Ballardie, Thompson and Matthews, Calcutta".

The contractor's name in the caption reads -- "Messrs Sardar Sahib Sardar Ranjit Singh, New Delhi".

"The palatial houses mark the earliest traces of art deco in the capital, with the style already a popular way of building with the advancement of the construction industry through the production of R.C.C. in the country at the time," the post reads.

Ambedkar resigned from the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Cabinet in 1951 over the issue of the Hindu Code Bill, and vacated the charming Hardinge Avenue house.

Kanika House later became the residence of the Polish ambassador to India, and it still maintains its charm.

After leaving Kanika House, Ambedkar moved to another house on 26, Alipur Road in the Civil Lines area where he lived until his death in 1956.

While the original house in Civil Lines doesn't exist anymore, a national memorial in honour of Ambedkar was erected at the site.

During his student days at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the 1920s, Ambedkar stayed in a four-storey townhouse on 10, King Henry's Road in the Camden area of north London, which has been preserved.

The Ambedkar House in London also has a blue plaque bearing -- "Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar 1891-1956, Indian Crusader for Social Justice, lived here 1921-1922".