BRITISH COLONIAL CITIES

GROUP 5
101114042 101114047
101114048
101114044
101114049
101114045 101114050
101114046 101114051
COLONIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE After glorious revolution (1688) After the zeroth world war (1763)

After Napolenic Wars (1815) After The Second World War (1945)
 THE END OF THE COLONIAL EMPIRE
The end of Britain's 400-year old trans-oceanic Empire was made official in 1998, when
all inhabitants of the few remaining overseas British territories became British citizens,
with equal rights to those in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the Unity of that
Kingdom is itself in question. Since 1999 Scotland has had its own parliament, for the
first time in nearly 300 years, and Wales has had its own assembly, for the first time in
nearly 600 years.
Colonial City planning - Development
A grid iron model for colonial town layouts quickly developed, based upon the practices of land
surveyors, mainly from the Royal Engineers.
There were, nevertheless, a number of influences that accounted for variations in approach,
particularly differing climate and terrain, and historical and legal developments of colonial rule.
From very early on Britain established its colonial presence, mainly in the coastal areas, by
ceding or acquiring territory further inland. This was achieved via legal protectorates or indirect
rule, leaving the traditional authority modified but intact. These arrangements affected the way
in which town planning was exercised. It also had an affect on the symbolism of the urban form
from the splendours of New Delhi to the more modest garden city of Lusaka.
The influence of Howard's Garden City concept was noted.
Planning principles
Location of ports and routes of railways were of vital importance to controlling and administering the territories.
Eight main attributes of colonial urban planning were established:
1. Deliberate urbanisation as a locus for civil behaviour and to establish control, e.g. Londonderry and Cork.
2. Towns were pre-planned and imposed on localities without much attention being given to existing constraints.
3. Grid iron layouts with streets, up to 150ft. (50m) wide were a special feature. As with Haussman in Paris this
was to assist in civic control and surveillance, not for traffic purposes.
4. Public squares were provided for symbolic purposes, to emphasise the status of the Empire. They were also
used for cricket as much as civic gatherings.
5. Towns were divided into 100ft. (30m) wide rectangular plots to minimise fire and health risks.
6. About one tenth of the area of the colonial town was laid out for public and sporting purposes, again with the
emphasis on cricket.
7. A cordon sanitaire surrounded every town, about ¼ mile (400m) wide to separate the town from the
surrounding bush or jungle, this width being regarded as the "furthest distance that a mosquito could fly". This is
said to be an early forerunner of the Green Belt. The space was also used for livestock, exercising ponies and for
sporting activity (including cricket) .
8. Creation of town, suburban and country building lots.
British Colonial era in India : 1615 to 1947

• The British arrived in 1615 by overthrowing the Mughal

empire.

• Britain reigned India for over three hundred years and their
legacy still remains through building and infrastructure that
populate their former colonies.

• The major cities colonized during this period were Madras,

Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Agra, Bankipore, Nagpur, Bhopal and
Hyderabad.
Culture clash
• English and Western ideas promoted as elite
• Limited social contact between British and Indians
• Only Hindus who became Christians could hold government positions
• Instruction in English, became language of the educated
• British did stop suttees (killing wife when the husband dies), child marriages (as early as nine or
ten), and infanticide (killing of infant girls because they were too costly to marry)

Impact
• Modernized India (railroads, irrigation, dams, better sanitation and education)
• British held all economic and political power

• Restricted domestic industries

• 1885 – Met for the first time to bring more Indians into the British controlled government
• Over then next thirty years they began to push for home rule and then independence
Architecture during British India Includes Indo-Saracenic Revival
architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, NeoMughal);
and colonial era Neoclassical architecture in India.
As traders- mundane and functional nature of early architecture without much response to the
Indian context.
Shift in attitude as the crown takes over in 1858, expressions of identity, power and superiority,
building for permanence- social and philosophical disparities between the ruler and the masses-
imposition of life style and behavior of self on the others.
Building techniques
Initial role of military engineers, followed by the setting up of Public Works Department (1862)
Introduction of new building practices affecting rural as well as urban scales Superimposition,
modification and replacement of existing building practices, introduction of new materials and
building techniques with their impact on architectural form.
TYPICAL PLANNING FEATURES
The British, French, Dutch and the Portuguese were the main powers that colonized India.
Under colonial rule, architecture became an emblem of power, designed to endorse the patron.
Architecture during British India Includes Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture (also known as
Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo- Mughal); and colonial era Neoclassical architecture in India.
Introduction of new institutions (railway stations, law courts, colleges, hospitals, post offices,
etc.)
Emergence of a new urbanity, modernizing forces, industrial and structural functionalism, urban
inserts and a new sense of urban design, overlaying of the new on the old, attitude to planning.
Extension of cities and development of suburbs, hill stations, cantonments
New urbanity in princely states
Initial role of military engineers, followed by the setting up of Public Works Department (1862)
Introduction of new building practices affecting rural as well as urban scales
Superimposition, modification and replacement of existing building practices, introduction of new
materials and building techniques with their impact on architectural form.
Politico-cultural meaning through built environment
Purposeful stylistic changes in architecture-from neoclassical to Indo-Sarcenic and Art Deco to modern
Influence of arts and crafts movement
Development of the bungalow typology, the most remarkable departure with its visible impact to date
and the resultant suburban expression
The cantonments and civil lines both were generally laid out as gridiron planned communities
They had central thoroughfares (the famous ‘Mall Roads’), with tree-lined streets, regularly divided
building plots and bungalows as the main housing type.
Churches and cemeteries, clubs, race and golf courses, and other trappings of an easy civil life followed.
 FORT ST GEORGE
CHENNAI

HIGHCOURT
CHENNAI
CANTONMENT :
• I N A D D I T I O N TO M A J O R U R B A N D E S I G N
S C H E M E S , I T WA S T H E C I V I L L I N E S A N D
T H E C A N TO N M E N T S W H I C H R E M A I N
TO D AY A M A J O R E V I D E N C E O F 1 9 T H
CENTURY BRITISH PRESENCE, AND WHICH
I N T U R N H AV E I N F L U E N C E D M U C H
MIDDLE-CLASS HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
IN MODERN INDIA.
• THIS STEMS FROM THEIR PERCEPTION AS
THE COLONIES OF THE ELITE.
• T H E C A N TO N M E N T S A N D C I V I L L I N E S
B OT H W E R E G E N E R A L LY L A I D O U T A S
GRIDIRON PLANNED COMMUNITIES WITH
C E N T R A L T H O R O U G H FA R E S ( T H E FA M O U S
‘MALL ROADS’), WITH TREE-LINED
S T R E E T S , R E G U L A R LY D I V I D E D B U I L D I N G
P L OT S A N D B U N G A L O W S A S T H E M A I N
HOUSING TYPE.
• CHURCHES AND CEMETERIES, CLUBS,
R A C E A N D G O L F C O U R S E S , A N D OT H E R
TRAPPINGS OF AN EASY CIVIL LIFE WERE
S O O N TO F O L L O W.

Vignesh Kiran. R 101114048

 CANTONMENT :
• T HE CA N TONMENT WA S A BR I T ISH M I L I TA RY S E T TLEMENT W HI CH WA S TO S P R EAD OU T
ALL OV E R I N DI A WHE R E VER T HE BR I T I SH WE R E P R ES ENT I N S I ZABLE N UMB E RS.
• OR I G I NALLY CON CE I V ED A S A M I L I TARY BA S E FOR BR I T I SH T ROOP S , T HE CA N TONM ENT
A L S O BEG A N TO HOU S E CI V I L I A NS W HO W E R E A S S OCIATED W I T H S E RV ICING T HE
M I L I TA RY, A N D DE V E LOPED I N TO A F U L L - F L E DGED M I N I -C I TY O F I TS OW N .
• T HE S ECON D HA L F OF T HE 1 9 T H CE N T U RY SAW T HI S T R A NSFORMATION
COMP L E TE. BA N G ALOR E CAN TONMENT HAD, FOR E X AMPLE, A P OP ULATI ON O F 1 0 0 ,000
BY T HE EA R LY 2 0 T H CE N T U RY A N D CON S I STED OF P U BL I C OF F I CES , CHU RC HES , PA R KS ,
S HOP S A N D S CHOOL S .
• I T WA S A N E N T ITY DI ST INC T F ROM T HE OL D CI T Y – T R A F F IC BE T W EEN T HE T WO HA D
TO STOP AT A TOL L - G ATE A N D PAY E N T RY TA X . T HE CA N TONMENT T HU S DE V E LOPED
I N TO A E UROP EAN TOWN I N I N DI A, WHOS E MAI N HOUS E T YP E WAS T HE BUN G ALOW.
 British Bungalows
The bungalow’s design evolved as a type over a hundred years. While the actual model for a
bungalow remains controversial, it appears to have dual origins: the detached rural Bengal
house sitting in its compound (from the word root bangla – from Bengal), and the British
suburban villa.
It was a fusion of these two types that led to a building form which would later become an
enduring symbol of the Raj.

The typical residential bungalow for the

wealthy, for example, was set back from the
road by a walled compound. The amount of
land enclosed was a symbol of status. For a
senior officer a ratio of 15:1, garden to built
form, was appropriate, while for a beginning
rank it could even be 1:1.
 British Bungalows
. .
In this sense the British showed a
hierarchical system no less
developed than the complex caste
system which they ascribed to India.
The early bungalows had long, low
classical lines and detailing.
The Gothic revival in England
brought about a corresponding
change in bungalow design –
spawning buildings with pitched
roofs and richly carpentered details
including such features as the
‘monkey tops’ of Bangalore.
 British Bungalows
The
. Classical bungalow with its Doric, and .
later, in New Delhi for instance, Tuscan
orders became a symbol not only of an
European heritage but also of the military
and political might of Britain. That the
bungalow continues to evoke associations
of wealth and power is evident from its
continued relevance as a building type in
India today.
 MADRAS
Madras White Town
Fort St George became the nucleus of the White Town

• From the beginning there were separate quarters • The administrative and judicial systems also favoured the
for Europeans and Indians, which came to be white population.
labelled in contemporary writings as the “White • Despite being few in number the Europeans were the
Town” and “Black Town” respectively. rulers and the development of Madras followed the
needs and convenience of the minority whites in the
town.
White town-where most of the Europeans lived.
Walls and bastions made this a distinct enclave.
Colour and religion determined who was allowed to
live within the Fort.
The Company did not permit any marriages with
Indians. Other than the English, the Dutch and
Portuguese were allowed to stay here because they
were European and Christian.
Fort St George
MADRAS
Madras Black Town
The Black Town developed outside the Fort.

It was laid out in straight lines, a characteristic of

colonial towns. It was, however, demolished in
the mid-1700sand the area was cleared for a
security zone around the Fort.
A new Black Town developed further to the
north.
This housed weavers, artisans, middlemen and
interpreters who played a vital role in the
Company trade.
The new Black Town resembled traditional Indian
towns, with living quarters built around its own
temple and bazaar.
On the narrow lanes there were distinct caste-
specific neighbourhoods.
BOMBAY
Bombay was initially seven islands. As the population grew, the islands were joined to create more
space and they gradually fused into one big city.
Bombay was the commercial capital of colonial India. As the premier port on the western coast it was
the centre of international trade.
By the end of the nineteenth century, half the imports and exports of India passed through Bombay.
One important item of this trade was opium (afyon) that the East India Company exported to China.
Indian merchants and middlemen supplied and participated in this trade. and they helped integrate
Bombay’s economy directly to Malwa, Rajasthan and Sind where opium was grown.
This collaboration with the Company was profitable and led to the growth of an Indian capitalist
class.
Bombay’s capitalists came from diverse communities such as Parsi, Marwari, Konkani Muslim,
Gujarati Bania, Bohra, Jew and Armenian.
 BOMBAY - BUILDINGS
As Bombay’s economy grew, from the mid-nineteenth century there
was a need to expand railways and shipping and develop the
administrative structure.
Many new buildings were constructed at this time. These buildings
reflected the culture and confidence of the rulers. The architectural
style was usually European. This importation of European styles
reflected the imperial vision in several ways.
The British in turn adapted some Indian styles to suit their needs.
One example is the bungalow, which was used by government
officers in Bombay and all over India.
The name bungalow was derived from bangla, a traditional
thatched Bengali hut. The colonial bungalow was set on extensive
grounds which ensured privacy and marked a distance from the
Indian world around.
The traditional pitched roof and surrounding veranda kept the
bungalow cool in the summer months
BOMBAY
For pubic buildings three broad architectural styles were used. Two of these were direct imports
from fashions prevalent in England.
The first was called neo-classical or the new classical. Its characteristics included construction of
geometrical structures fronted with lofty pillars It was derived from a style that was originally
typical of buildings in ancient Rome, and was subsequently revived, re-adapted and made
popular during the European Renaissance.
Another style that was extensively used was the neo-Gothic, characterized by high-pitched
roofs, pointed arches and detailed decoration. The Gothic style had its roots in buildings,
especially churches, built in northern Europe during the medieval period.
Towards the beginning of the twentieth century a new hybrid architectural style developed
which combined the Indian with the European.
This was called Indo-Saracenic. “Indo” was shorthand for Hindu and “Saracen” was a term
Europeans used to designate Muslim.
CALCUTTA
Calcutta –bordered by
water and division of
Indian in the north. The
Victoria Memorial in
Calcutta, is the most
effective symbolism of
British Empire, built as a
monument in tribute to
Queen Victoria’s reign
 The Old Fort Ghat (Ganj nehrine inen merdiven) in Calcutta, engraving by
Thomas and William Daniell, 1787.

The Old Fort was on the

water-front. The East
India Company’s goods
were received here.
The ghat continued to be
used for bathing
purposes by the local
people.
 WRITER’S BUILDING
KOLKATA

VICTORIA MEMORIAL
KOLKATA