Ellerslie

The Ellerslie House or Himachal Pradesh Secretariat as it is known is the finest example of the British Colonial Architecture. This beautiful heritage building was designed by Lt. Colonel H.S. Abbott for the government use in 1886. Before construction, they had to dismantle the old building which had the same name and was used by the Military Department of Punjab Government. Due to this fact, today also it is known as the Ellerslie House by the people.

The building is constructed from the stone which was quarried from the Barnes Court which is also known today as the Raj Bhawan and Sanjauli. The stones and the bricks were cemented together with the lime mortar. The building covers the area of 8663 meters. This is 3 storied building, which have 143 rooms for various government departments and the 31 rooms for public service and 31 refreshment rooms. It also has a basement and sub basement.

The Himachal Pradesh Government took over this building in 1967. Today, all the government activities are conducted from the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat. As the Himachal Pradesh rules the state from this building, the present and future of the citizens of state is decided here. Also, the State Legistlaure or Vidhan Sabha conducts the regular meetings in this building.
One of political and historically significant events, which are prominent in the pages of country’s history, is the Shimla Agreement. In July 1972, the initial meetings between the Indian and Pakistani delegation were conducted in one of the rooms in this Building. That room was spruced up for the meetings and is now known as the Summit Hall.