Tollygunge Club, the oldest and most unique country club of India, spreading over 100 acres of land, with one of the rarest collections of Flora & Fauna, started its journey in 1895. But for the club house, the nucleus of Tollygunge Club, the journey started much before, when Mr. Johnson, a British businessman brought a Garden house amidst the vast Greenland of Russapagla, far from the turmoil of Calcutta.
In the course of time, Russapagla transformed into Tollygunge and the club house has also undergone many additions & alterations according to the changing needs of its owner. This heritage structure, which bears the brunt of 230 years of history, needs some care and attention. The objective of this project is to restore the lost glory & to modernize it as much as possible.
HERITAGE PROJECTS
Dulal Mukherjee & Associates was asked to develop a modernization master plan for the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. The grand edifice was a brainchild of the then Governor General of India, Lord Curzon and was built in homage to the memory of Queen Empress Victoria. It was also intended to be a museum mainly exhibiting Royal Memorabilia. Today, with a collection of over 27,000 artifacts, Victoria Memorial Hall is a complete museum with numerous galleries showing different aspects of history and culture.
Apart from its importance as a museum, the edifice is one of the finest examples of late colonial architecture in India and is a landmark synonymous to the city of Kolkata.
The edifice attracts millions of visitors not only for its collections but simply for its architectural magnificence and enjoyment of its beautifully laid out grounds.
The edifice along with its precinct requires a complete re-organisation and modernization to sustain the pressures of its ever increasing footfall and function as an `Edutainment Center' where education and entertainment are entwined sensitively for the benefit of the educated society.To accommodate the growing requirements of a museum, the Kolkata Tercentenary Trust has decided modernize the existing galleries.
AIM OF MODERNISATION
Located on Park Street, Park Mansions is a building of heritage and commercial prominence which was degenerating with age and negligence. Its revitalization was an attempt to bring back the antiquated Colonial grandeur and also introduce an additional mass within the inside courtyard as a new attraction. Inaccessibility in almost half of the spaces within the building due to tenant occupation resulted in a challenging restoration job.
RESTORATION & REJUVENATION OF PARK MANSION
Park Mansions, developed by Armenian jute merchant T.M.Thaddeus in 1910 at the intersection of Park Street and Free School Street is getting a major makeover.
The Rs.45 crore project undertaken by the Apeejay Surrendra Group include reversing the ageing effect of the building, correcting the stress imbalance caused by a fire in the early 1990s. Creating a two level parking facility in the central courtyard and a steel and glass destination zone above the parking lot
Dulal Mukherjee & Associates is currently engaged in reversing the ageing process and reinforcing the sections devastated by fire. Escalators and overhead water distribution system will be modernized, the drive and lighting arrangements will be upgraded.
Built up Area : 19748 sq.m.
Project Cost : Rs. 34.00 crores
HERITAGE PROJECTS
It is the proudest buildings in Kolkata , not just in size, but in the saga of its survival. It is the type of building that Kolkatans can identify with.
Formerly the hub of the Empire's `Premier shopping Centre', the Whiteaway and Laidlaw department store once filled its showrooms with the best popular merchandise in the city.
Encompassed within the haloed, Barrel vaulted stained glass arcades of this striking neo baroque building and highlighted by domes, arches and a grand clock tower was a true example of a fashionable shopping experience of the British Raj.
However since independence, the structure deteoriated dramatically with neglect and misuse, till the present owners, the Life Insurance Corporation of India took initiatives along with architects Dulal Mukherjee & Associates and conservation specialist Eric Theophile to take some basic measures to draw international and national attention towards the decaying structure.
Their combined and monumental efforts bore fruit and the Metropolitan Building was included among the 100 most endangered heritage structures of the world in the World Monuments Watch Programme.
Built up Area : 17279.82 sq.m.
Project Cost : Rs. 5.50 crores
Metro Cinema is located on Jawaharlal Nehru Road, one of the city’s most important thoroughfare.
Originally known as the Chowringhee Road, it is the commercial/cultural and business hub of the city and adorned with some of the most important landmarks.
This once magnificent edifice is slowly deteriorating and fading from public memory with the
Despite not conforming to heritage criteria and several alterations before classification – Metro Cinema has been notified as a heritage building thereby demanding to be restored.
The main aim of the project is to Rejuvenate The Heritage Structure to its Past Glory with Added Features which would Ensure its Economic Viability and Give Back to Kolkata one of its Landmarks.
New Proposal:
The flavor of the concept
Design - the stepped profile is the epitome of the art deco shape, found everywhere from uplighters to picture surrounds.
Colors – The halls filled with bold colour schemes such as silver, black, chrome, yellow and red. Smaller ares with Creams, greens and beige, or oyster and eau-de-nil.
Floors – The best Italian Marbles put together in abstract designs such as the black and white chequerboard. Oynx and amber.
Walls – Art deco Murals and strong streamlined and bold veneered wood shapes
Ceilings – The classic stepped profile frames. Frescos. Rectangular and bold chandeliers.
Furniture - strong, streamlined shapes for furniture and in single pieces rather than suites
Carpets – Rich carpets would be overlaid with large geometric patterns.
Lighting – Chrome and Glass. The glass will be etched, sandblasted or enamelled rather than coloured.
HERITAGE PROJECTS
To eminent thespians and theatre lovers of Kolkata the Minerva Theatre is a nostalgia that has remained with us through a destructive fire that almost reduced it to ashes and through a period of degeneration.
The theatre house was opened on 28th January 1893 with Girish Chandra Ghosh’s Macbeth was forced to close down because of fire on August 18, 1922. Subsequently, it reopened its doors in 1953 when Utpal Dutt’s ` Little Theatre Group ‘ took it over to usher in a new movement in Bengali Theatre. Through thick and thin, Minerva has survived but fire ravages and past futile attempts at `revival’ have left permanent scars on its façade. The Government’s attempt to revive the theatre with technical expertise from M/s Dulal Mukherjee & Associates, is the first step to regaining its lost pride.
Numerous interactions with theatre personalities, workshops and study of the restored theatres in London, have led to the development proposal of a cozy intimate theatre, with excellent acoustical design, complete with workshop areas, archives, bookstores, rehearsal spaces and an eclectic theatre museum showcasing the modern theatre movements of Bengal. The outside envelope was painstakingly restored, original motifs, reintroduced and the useless `kitch’ was done away with the structural stability was restored by reducing the dead load and replacing the damaged beams. Thus, it now stands as a foremost centre of theatre activities and research in Kolkata.
Built up Area : 3126.96 sq.m.
Project Cost : Rs. 7.00 crores
MINERVA THEATER
Built-up area: 2843.93 sq.m
Project Cost: Rs. 4.5 Crores
Date of completion: February 2008
This small auditorium has a rich legacy being the mute witness to the theatre movement of Bengal in the late nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century and later being the hub of theatrical creations by the stalwart thespian Utpal Dutta. The Government’s initiative in restoring the decadent precinct back to its past glory had involved serious brainstorming sessions, spearheaded by the architect in close association with theatre personalities to bring out a meaningful solution for revival and sustenance. Taking influence from similar projects initiated in England involving revival of Victorian theatres, the architect recreated a downsized capacity auditorium within the existing framework and introducing the much needed spaces for workshops, rehearsal rooms, souvenir shops and cafeterias to make theatre watching a wholesome experience.
An archive and museum for theatre personality Utpal Dutta along with an audio visual room is a novel way of paying tribute to this stalwart and also a complete destination for making the complex economically sustainable in the long run.
