The architecture of the British Raj period in India was designed to intimidate and assert dominance over the local Indian population. Gothic and neo-Gothic styles were used as they conveyed a sense of being European, Christian, and technologically advanced. Some buildings, like the Victoria Terminus train station in Mumbai, were fantastical designs meant to overwhelm Indian culture. However, some Raj buildings incorporated some Indian elements. The British settlements in places like Shimla featured extremely grandiose buildings that seem out of place. Modern Indian views on preserving this architectural legacy are mixed, with opinions on both restoring and removing such colonial-era structures.

1. EXPLORING INDIAN
ARCHITECTURE
LESSON VIII
The Architecture of the British
Raj, The Architecture of
Repression

2. Last week, we discussed a great empire – The
Moghul Civilisation
• However, after 400 years of fighting, building, conquering and
change, like all empires, the Moghuls had to fall. Another
larger, more powerful and incredibly wealthy empire was ready to
take its place, and change India forever.
• What do we know of the British Empire? It affected the whole
world, and still echoes throughout the planet today. How can we
see it in Hungary? What influences did it have here and elsewhere?

3. The British Empire owned nearly a third of the
world until it began to collapse after the Second
World War, and India was perhaps the most
important colony

4. And why were the British so interested in India?

5. The History of the British Raj is
long, brutal, bloody and complicated.
• Do worksheet 1 on ‚The History of the Raj’ and report back to the
class on your findings.
• How is this so different from the Moghuls, or any other empire?

6. But the differences between India and the UK are
huge, and so the planners and architects who travelled
there to create the English settlements had to think of
many different things
• Perhaps the most obvious is the climate. Most of India is
unbearably hot for English people. What could town planners do to
overcome this problem? Where might we expect the most ‚Raj’
style towns to be?
• The simplest answer was the most widely used: At high altitudes
and on the coast. Here, the weather does not reach such extremes.
Indeed, in the Raj fort town of Mahabhaleshwar, the mountaintops
are so mild in temperature, the English even started growing
strawberries there to have with their afternoon tea.

7. The main feature of Raj architecture was to
intimidate and frighten the Indian people
• How could you create „frightening” or „intimidating” architecture?
What is the purpose of this?
• They wanted to show the Indian people that they were more
powerful, more technologically advanced, more wealthy and
generally superior to them in every way.
• Not only this, but they wanted to „re-write” history – to
pretend, through architecture, that they had been there for
thousands of years. How could you show all of this in a building?
• Religion is important, too. As with all empires, the British wanted
to force their religion on the native people. Architecture is a hugely
powerful and enduring tool for doing just this.

8. There is one architectural style which does all of these
things – it is christian, European, scary, intimidating, old
and technically impressive. What is it?
• The GOTHIC and NEO-GOTHIC
• What are the features of a gothic building? What types of buildings do we
normally associate it with? Why?
• Why would it seem so strange to find gothic architecture in India? What effect do
you think it would have on the people there?
• The style was chosen for many of the above reasons. But also because it was
fashionable in the Victorian era (even though it was already hundreds of years old)
and was over-the-top, outrageous and exaggerated enough to try and ‚overtake’
or engulf Indian culture, architecture and imagery, as if it had never been there.

9. Not only this, but some of the designs seemed
so ridiculous, so fantastical, so „un-Indian”…

10. That they went ahead and built them anyway, as
quickly as they could…

11. The Victoria Terminus Train Station in Mumbai is
the most ridiculous of the Raj buildings…
• Based (although greatly exaggerated) on St. Pancras train station
in London, it is a mad gothic fantasy in the middle of India’s 2nd
biggest city. What is it doing? What is it saying? Why does it look like
a medieval building, even though it was built in the 19th century?

12. However, some Raj buildings and icons (whilst still very British)
tried to incorporate or include elements or patterns or shapes
taken from Indian and Moghul architecture, too.
• Why would they do this? Can you think of positive or negative
reasons for doing so?
• Look at the ‚Gate of India’ – built for Empress Victoria’s first visit.
What is British, European or Indian about this?

13. How could you do something
similar with Hungarian
Architecture? How would a
typically/traditionally/strong
Hungarian style blend with Indian
fashion or traditions? Discuss with
a partner.

14. For perhaps the most extreme and bizarre examples of
British architecture in India, we must go East, to
Shimla, one of the ‚capitals’ of the Raj at its most
powerful

15. Have a look at your building in pairs, and try to
answer as many of the questions as you can.

17. What can we say about Shimla? Should it be treated as a joke, or
can we learn something of the identity of India through it? Are
the buildings here any less valid or „Indian” than the Taj Mahal?
• Perhaps the British Empire made India what it was today…
modern, connected, democratic, industrial… and
poor, hungry, polluted and ruined…

18. What do you think modern Indians think of all
the Raj architecture that still stands in their
(now) free country?
• Should it be saved and restored at great cost?
• Should it be torn down and rebuilt in a more ‚Indian’ style? What
might be the problems with this?