Posted on: 23 April 2010

Calcutta house surrounded by a garden with tank and out-houses - 1845.

Watercolour of a Calcutta house by Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya (fl.1830s-40s), c. 1845.
Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya was one of the most prolific Calcutta artists producing work for the British in the 1830's and 40's. The East India Company was influential on Indian culture and a new painting style developed in response to the tastes and influences of the British serving with the East India Company. Company painting first emerged in Murshidabad in the second half of the 18th century. It is a style of miniature painting that subsequently spread to other British centres. This drawing shows a Calcutta house surrounded by a garden with a tank and several other buildings associated with the complex. Calcutta was known as the 'City of Palaces' and there was a large British community who were building houses similar in style to the one shown here. Popular areas for British residents in Calcutta were Chowringee and Garden Reach.

Source : British Library


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Fascinating

By the mid 19th C a lot of these were being built by Bengali developers for 100 year leases as well as for themselves. The tank and building look like Vijay Manzil.

Amrita : Its surprising that these buildings exist even now and that you could recognise them. A 100 year lease in 1845 would be too much of a coincidence !

Where is it in Calcutta?

@RBSI: Sir do u have any rare old pics, books or articles of the present Marine Drive ?? I wanted to know more about the old buildings namely "Kapur Mahal" ( http://wikimapia.org/953072/Kapur-Mahal) and "Anchorage" ( http://wikimapia.org/3500312/The-Anchorage). Kapur mahal was d residence of my great grand father Late Dewan Bahaddur Bombay Kikkeri Ramaswamy, which now houses Embassy of Ghana and Anchorage was the private property of the Mysore Royals n currently its a workplace for mentally challenged people. Any further information by any one regarding these two buildings will be appreciated.

brilliant !! needless to say...sp the work with the reflection !!

Does Chowringhee Bazaar still exist? My family visited an aunt and uncle , Sid and Edie Beard , and we shopped there once

It is awesome to see this image of this bldg because the Beards lived in the second floor suite of bldg like this with access to a flat toa flt top roof grden with a few potted plants nd knee high concrete wall contining the rectngular space

My pc is not opening this window up as I keyboard ... and the letter 'a" keeps skipping !...access to a rooftop garden

My sister Marina was lost while we were at Chowringhee and my mother was frantic till we found a small tearful sister

walking hand-in hand with a solicitous GI and his girlfriend .My mother ran to then ,crazed with fear , slapped Marina

and told her not to wander away again.My mother was born in Allahabad ,my grandparents and she ws terrified ll her life of being kidnpped for the white slave traffic .

Given the twenty-first century , that is still a threat for many young girls .. and boys ...globally ... not only white skinned

This is presumably what was referred to at the time as "an upstairs" house, as well as a "garden house." Does anybody have pictures of the interior layout of one of these houses? Did they have the kitchens and other domestic quarters on the ground floor, or are they normally in a range of smaller buildings outside? Nick Balmer