Under The Banyan Tree: English 2020

In 1948, the Government of India at New Delhi handed over a large piece of property, measuring about 300 acres and situated north of Calcutta on the banks of the Hooghly to the State Government of West Bengal. In time this imposing mansion, built in the classical style with an elegant colonnaded portico, smaller bungalows scattered around it and a large garden styled like an English park with an enormous banyan tree on the southern side, was handed over to the West Bengal Police and slowly fell into disuse, dereliction and ruin. Such was the fate of Government House, Barrackpore, conceived and begun by Lord Wellesley, completed by the Marquess of Hastings and a vibrant weekend retreat for the Governors General and later the Viceroys of British India. This book documents the history the rise, the fall and the resurrection of Government House and Barrackpore Park along with a photographic series of its present day restoration. A compulsive read for historians, architects, conservationists and lovers of antiquity, 'Under the Banyan Tree' will validate the efforts of all those who feel that the stories of old buildings is a justifiable and valuable part of world heritage.