Historical 185 year old ''Gol Kothi'', Kapaurthala near Jalandhar to be fully restored soon!!

.Gol Kothi, Kapurthala , Punjab.hindustantimes.com

185-year-old Gol Kothi. Kapurthala  near Jalandhar  city  that was declared unsafe  in 2016  by the PWD  is  almost recovered and restored  back to past glory glory.   The work was undertaken at a cost of 4.98 crore under the ''conservation and adaptive reuse of colonial heritage'' project.


Gol Kothi, Kapurthala,, Punjab. tribuneindia.com

dilapidated Gol Kothi, Kapurthala  Jalandhar, Punjab. hindustantimes.com

Spread over nine kanals and nine marlas, this old colonial structure had been in a state of neglect for a pretty long time and at one  stage it became structurally weak and unsafe. Literally the fine colonial building was in shambles for beyond the time limit.  The wall of the rooms on the back portion  had already caved in and the  rest of the building  was i bad shape owing to poor upkeep.  PWD closed part of the building  temporarily 5 years ago  and the safer side of the building was used as the residence of the Chief Medical Officer.


Gol Kothi, kapuathala (jalandhur) commons.wikimedia.org

Finally, the state government interfered and  undertook the repair work on a war footing to save it from total destruction.   The task of restoring the heritage building has been assigned to  the Rajputana Constructions Pvt Ltd, a Rajasthan-based company. Part of the conservation work included the Darbar Hall and Buggy Khana. The restoration work began in earnest in November 2017  and is nearing completion now.


Location map, kapurthala, Pujab, India. censusindia.co.in


What was special about the Kothi?   Located right opposite the office of  Kapurthala SSP, it was the residence of Maharajah Jagatjit Singh   in the 1880s. H spent his formative years here. The kothi was originally  built by  Maharajah Fateh Singh in 1833 and it was to be used as the residence of Maha Mantri  (Prime Minister) of his  erstwhile princely state.


Conservationist took particular care to retain the old value and  heritage elements in the building. So, they brought  experienced  skilled workers from Madhya Pradesh  to  keep the heritage look in tact.  The masonry work was  done using slaked lime and red sandstone.  The purpose of using a  blend of  redbrick dust, slaked lime and other materials  is to strengthen the walls, etc. They are known to possess  cementing properties that bind the construction materials. Conservation is a time consuming job and requires  patience and right choice of construction materials to match the original. This way  original features of the building can be retained.

The  conservation project aims at two things -  retention of old features and adaptive reuse. How best the retained old structure can be put to reuse in an effective way in the future.


With a view to promoting tourism  on the anvil were other buildings like   Deewan Hall, Buggy Khana and Gulabi Kothi (popularly known as Bhoot Bangla).  There was a proposal to  connect Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi to Jang-e-Azadi near Kartarpur, Goindwal, Tarn Taran and Amritsar thus forming  a religious cum historical tourist circuit.

A part of the  Darbar Hall, which once served as the  administrative complex, was  renovated a year ago. Deewan hall was  to be renovated next followed by Buggy Khanna  soon after shifting of the  Vigilance Bureau which was functioning there, 

Tit-bits: 

Yet another heritage building is the Moorish Mosque  that was built by Maharajah Jagatjit Singh  and it was recently restored under the project. It is a good  example of Marrakesh architecture and there are only two mosques in the world built in this style.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/185-yr-old-gol-kothi-near-jalandhar-to-recover-its-former-glory/story-AXqROT14pKatNJsEbCEeGL.html 

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/187-year-old-gol-kothi-regains-its-original-glory-27082

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/kapurthalas-iconic-gol-kothi-restored-to-have-restaurant-101633635064602.html