Shimla’s most magnificent heritage building, Gorton Castle, housing Himachal Pardesh’s Accountant General (AG) office was gutted in a devastating fire early Tuesday morning.
The fire which started around 3 am spread through the four-storey sprawling complex build during the British Raj days, reduced the main complex into ashes.
The fire was reported in the top floor of the Gorton Castle, housing the office of Audit and Accountant General (AG office), a fire department official told IANS. Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Malhotra said fire tenders of civil and the Indian Army have been pressed into service.
Col. Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, who drew up the original plan for this building, was a well-known engineer and architect working in India. He was not a Simla man; he was the consulting engineer to Jaipur, where he had developed an irrigation system and also produced some fine work "in the Indo-Sarcanic style, which combined Hindu, Muslim and Western traditions" (Ellinwood 187), including the Lalghar Palace in Bikanir (1881) and the Albert Hall in Jaipur itself (opened as a museum in 1887). He was also responsible for the original red sandstone buildings of St Stephen's College at Kashmere Gate in Delhi (1891), and had the reputation of being "the best professional architect in India" (Lord Curzon's words, qtd. in Kanwar 308). So it was to him that Lord Curzon turned for a design for a new Government Secretariat in Simla. Swinton Jacob's plan was just to Curzon's liking, and ideally suited to the commanding, airy hilltop plot which had originally been donated to the government for a hospital. Although the plan had to be modified later by the Resident Engineer, Major Chesney, the prominent four-storey structure still looked much as both Swinton Jacob and Curzon had intended.
One of the most striking buildings of the British empire, Gorton Castle is a new-Gothic structure that had the famous Sir Swinton Jacob as its architect - the Rajasthan jaali work on its balconies obviously came from his forty five years of experience as the executive engineer of the princely state of Jaipur, completed in 1904, Gorton Castle now AG Office this was the Civil Secretariat of the Imperial Government of India and housed the Legislative, Lands, Education, Home Health and Finance departments. Today, this houses the offices of the Accountant General of Himachal Pradesh. This three floored building with about 125 small and big rooms became the seat of the Accountant General in 1947. This finest house in Shimla, according to Sir Edward Buck also has one floor paved with rosewood like timber blocks which were brought from Andaman Islands by B.Ribbentrop head of forest department. The site belonged to one Mr. Gorton, ICS in 1840. After changing hands thrice, it was purchased by a banker, Sir James Walker for Rs. 80,000. He wished to gift it for construction of Hospital After much discussion and persuasion the building was acquired for its officers and Sir Walker was given alternate site where Walker Hospital was constructed.
Sources:
Ellinwood, Dewitt C. Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905-21. Lanham, MD.: University Press of America, 2005.
himachaltourism.gov.in
The fire which started around 3 am spread through the four-storey sprawling complex build during the British Raj days, reduced the main complex into ashes.
The fire was reported in the top floor of the Gorton Castle, housing the office of Audit and Accountant General (AG office), a fire department official told IANS. Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Malhotra said fire tenders of civil and the Indian Army have been pressed into service.
Pictures of fire incident
Note: Pictures are taken from Shimla Police's Social Site and believed to be in public domain.
To see more of it please visit Shimla Police's Social Site here.
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| Front View of Gorton castle (Photo Courtesy of Shimla Police) |
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| Fire on the roof of Gorton castle (Photo Courtesy of Shimla Police) |
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| Outside view of Gorton castle (Photo Courtesy of Shimla Police) |
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| Inside Gorton castle (Photo Courtesy of Shimla Police) |
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| Firemen trying to control the fire at Gorton castle (Photo Courtesy of Shimla Police) |
History
Col. Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, who drew up the original plan for this building, was a well-known engineer and architect working in India. He was not a Simla man; he was the consulting engineer to Jaipur, where he had developed an irrigation system and also produced some fine work "in the Indo-Sarcanic style, which combined Hindu, Muslim and Western traditions" (Ellinwood 187), including the Lalghar Palace in Bikanir (1881) and the Albert Hall in Jaipur itself (opened as a museum in 1887). He was also responsible for the original red sandstone buildings of St Stephen's College at Kashmere Gate in Delhi (1891), and had the reputation of being "the best professional architect in India" (Lord Curzon's words, qtd. in Kanwar 308). So it was to him that Lord Curzon turned for a design for a new Government Secretariat in Simla. Swinton Jacob's plan was just to Curzon's liking, and ideally suited to the commanding, airy hilltop plot which had originally been donated to the government for a hospital. Although the plan had to be modified later by the Resident Engineer, Major Chesney, the prominent four-storey structure still looked much as both Swinton Jacob and Curzon had intended.
One of the most striking buildings of the British empire, Gorton Castle is a new-Gothic structure that had the famous Sir Swinton Jacob as its architect - the Rajasthan jaali work on its balconies obviously came from his forty five years of experience as the executive engineer of the princely state of Jaipur, completed in 1904, Gorton Castle now AG Office this was the Civil Secretariat of the Imperial Government of India and housed the Legislative, Lands, Education, Home Health and Finance departments. Today, this houses the offices of the Accountant General of Himachal Pradesh. This three floored building with about 125 small and big rooms became the seat of the Accountant General in 1947. This finest house in Shimla, according to Sir Edward Buck also has one floor paved with rosewood like timber blocks which were brought from Andaman Islands by B.Ribbentrop head of forest department. The site belonged to one Mr. Gorton, ICS in 1840. After changing hands thrice, it was purchased by a banker, Sir James Walker for Rs. 80,000. He wished to gift it for construction of Hospital After much discussion and persuasion the building was acquired for its officers and Sir Walker was given alternate site where Walker Hospital was constructed.
Sources:
Ellinwood, Dewitt C. Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905-21. Lanham, MD.: University Press of America, 2005.
himachaltourism.gov.in
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