June 23, 2002

FROM invaders to marauders, the 2000-year-old Lahore has gone through a very colourful existence. And in the process it has enjoyed cycles of rebuilding and resurfacing of its past glory out of its ashes, like a phoenix.

Emperor Akbar made this city his transitory capital. Later, Jahangir set up his courts in Lahore, and he now lies in eternal sleep here. In Lahore, Shah Jahan was born and it was here that Dara Shikoh was declared the Emperor of India. As a result of these royal connections Lahore has acquired many Mughal architectural troves. But many of these Mughal wonders were plundered during the Sikh rule of Punjab. After this era of destruction came the British rule, in 1849. During their 90-year rule, some of the old and damaged architectures were restored. However, they never recovered their original glory.

Besides helping to maintain the Mughal architecture, the British also left their indelible mark through the construction and development projects they carried out. Lofty towers, Gothic architecture, arcades and mirages constructed in the colonial era still grace the skyline of Lahore. There are 50 buildings in Indo-Sarcenic style.

To take a look at the chronology of these buildings, let’s take a walk through some of Lahore’s British era architectural landmarks. The beautiful Mall was constructed, in 1851, as the arterial link between the Anarkali Garrison and the new Mianmir Cantonment. Trees, wide footpaths, horse tracks and buggy drives were to be the hallmarks of this boulevard. A post office and a telegraph house were respectively established in 1854-55.

The Lahore Railway Station was completed in 1861 as a junction of the North Western Railway (NWR), which has now come to be known as Pakistan Railways. A year later, in 1862, Victoria High School for Girls was set up in the haveli of Rani Chandar Kaur, mother of Kanwar Nihal Singh, the infant ruler of the Punjab for a brief moment in time.

The Lahore Museum was initially started as an exhibition site, in 1864. Handicrafts and collections of the nobles and nawabs of the province were on show there. Mr Kipling (the father of Rudyard Kipling, later of C&MG Association) was the Director of the exhibition, which lasted for a year. He later became the first curator of Lahore Museum. The Government College (the one and the only one!), started in 1864, with the French orientalist, Latiers, as its first principal. The Chief’s Court started functioning in 1865, and it later became the Lahore High Court. The next year, Montgomery Hall was built. Later this hall was merged structurally with Lawrence Hall, which was erected to honour Colonel Lawrence, the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab and, subsequently, the Viceroy of India. Montgomery, too, had been the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, and earlier its Chief Secretary.

The Law College started functioning in 1869, and Oriental College was built next to it in the year 1872. That year also saw the opening of the Lahore Zoo. The City Hospital, later called Mayo Hospital, started operations in 1870. It was constructed at the site of the garden of Hari Singh, a courtier of the Sikh durbar who had been the collector of taxes on the city’s trade.

The Punjab University was built between 1872 and 1877. Its Indo-Sarcenic architecture still stands out amongst the modern buildings, which now surround the university. It cost the enormous amount of Rs 32O,000 to build and Lord Ripon presided over the opening of the University. Edward, the Prince of Wales, held a durbar in the University hall when he visited Lahore.

The North Western Railway’s Moghulpura Workshops were constructed on an area of 126 acres, in the year 1874. Next year, Mayo School of Arts (now NCA), started functioning and the school had Professor Kipling as its first principal. In those days, his son, Rudyard Kipling, was also associated with the school. Later on, he moved onto journalism and writing, and received the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1907.

The Kinnaird High School of Girls was set up in 1879 and it was upgraded to the status of a college in 1913. Its first principal was Miss McNair. Two other ladies, Miss Robinson and Miss Mangat Roy, held the post of the principal between them for about 50 years, the longest in the college’s history. The Central Training College for Teachers was set up in 1880.

In l882, the Water Works (Panni Wala Talab inside the walled city) were inaugurated by Sir Charles Atchison, the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. Central Model School was established in the haveli of Raja Dhayan Singh, in 1882. The construction of Lahore Medical College was completed in 1883 and two years later, in 1885, it was inaugurated by the Viceroy, Lord Harding.

Sir Charles Aitchison inaugurated the Punjab Public Library in 1885. Bishop Thomas French consecrated the Mall Cathedral, also called the Kukkar Girja in local parlance, in 1886. It was built through donations of 50,000 pounds and a government grant of Rs 50,000. Aitchison College was started in the year 1886, with donations from the rulers and nawabs of the states in Punjab, with the Nawab of Patiala being the major contributor. The Veterinary Hospital was built as an adjunct to the city hospital, at the site of now non-existing Chaubara of Chajjumal, in 1882. Lord Harding, the Viceroy inaugurated it and its first principal was Colonel G.K. Kettlewel. The college was later shifted to its present site in Civil Lines, in 1902.

The Lahori Gate was restored in the year 1884. The refurbished gate was inaugurated, according to a plaque at the gate, by ‘Nawab Sir Robert Montgomery Sahib Bahadur, during the commissionorate of Douglas Hall Sahib Bahadur and of Deputy Commissioner Captain Hall Sahib Bahadur’. It was later restored under the supervision of Abdul Hameed Khan. The many Sahib Bahadurs, named on the plaque, did a good job to restore the historic gate, which still stands. The Lahore Gate has lost its grandeur but, thankfully, not its originality.

Lady Atchison Hospital was established in 1887 and Queen Mary College was inaugurated in 1911. Both the Law College and the Lahore College for Women were set up in 1922, and Lady Mcleagon Training College for Women was established the very next year. That year, in 1923, McLeagon Engineering College was established. The college has changed its name three times after the partition — first to Punjab College of Engineering and Technology, and then to Government College of Engineering and Technology and finally it was upgraded to the University of Engineering and Technology in the 60s. The original, open-profiled double storied building of the College still stands intact, in its simple architectural style.

The Senate Hall was constructed in 1926, at a cost of Rs 32,000, donated by the Nawab of Bahawalpur. The Halley College of Commerce was constructed in 1927. This college is currently situated at the New Campus of Punjab University, and it still carries the old name. A hostel is now established in the old Halley College building in the city. The De Montmorennci College of Dentistry was started in 1930, which was also the year when Lady Wellington Hospital was established.

The Lahore Radio Station was commissioned in 1937 and the Punjab Legislative Assembly building was completed in the year 1938. The Craik Technical Institute was set up in 1939. Now it is called Government College of Technology, awarding BTech (Hons) degree, which, oddly enough, the Pakistan Engineering Council does not recognize!

The British Raj’s architectural contribution to Lahore ended in 1939. Ironically, that was also the year when WWII started, an event that ultimately proved to be the death knell of the British presence in the subcontinent.

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