 |
| East Pont Guest House Beach road, Visakhapatnam. koti.blog |
 |
| .Vizag East Pont Guest House Beach road, deccanchronicle.com |
The Indian railways across India has countless heritage buildings, rest houses, office buildings, stations, etc., and the senior officials are keen to preserve such old structures as heritage sites - legacies of the British India railways.
The 125 year old railway guest house in the midst of a big well-kept lawn at East Point on the Beach Road in Visakhapatnam, AP is a fine example of a British-styled bungalow. From a distance, if you just take a cursory glace you may mistake it for a Kerala style building with a red-tiled sloping roof. Inquisitive passers-by will never fail to take a second look at this structure with big majestic arched porticos. The surrounding garden has old mango and wood apple trees
Close to the railway station, constructed by the Dutch in 1892, the building has a rectangular plan overlooking the bay in East Point area. It is a two-story building in stone masonry fortified with buttresses for extra strength to the walls. It has a number of suites with well-designed colonnaded semicircular arched verandahs in the front, a common feature in the bungalows of the past era. The Verandah will cut down the heat and radiation from outside in midday and provide an ideal place for relaxations in the evening. An attractive feature is the two floors have arched porticos and a harmonious superimposed gable over it with wooden rails .
 |
| Vizag East Pont Guest House Beach road, justdial com |
In this type of building quality wood is widely used particularly for the first floor. The ceilings made up of wood are still in good shape despite age. It is said, in some rooms renovation was done with cement ceiling. Doors and windows, though not decorative, impart an elegant look internally and externally. Further, they enhance the ambiance indoors. The stone walls give a look of a country style building and they are well maintained by the railways.
 |
| Vizag East Pont Guest House Beach road, justdial com |
Despite regular up keep this building faces a perpetual problem because of its proximity to the sea and the station. The walls get blackened. Reason: “The coal dust coupled with sea moisture makes the wall surface black. Hence once a week, we clean all the walls properly. The stones are really very strong and of great quality. Else, the salt deterioration and pollution would have damaged all over the years like other heritage buildings,” according to a maintenance staff.
 |
| Railway guest house east road, Visakhapatnam, AP.hehindu.com |
In order to look after this good-looking building and the adjacent garden the railways have 7 permanent staff and about 15 on contract. That this building did not suffer any damage in the cyclone powerful Hudhud in the past suggest the structure was well built with quality construction materials.
For the first time in 2019, INTACH was planning to document the heritage sites owned by the railways in this part including Waltair railway station and the railway school besides the old guest house which used to be the Divisional Railway Manager’s Bungalow. These old structures represent the 125 years of Vizag' railways legacy
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/100516/vizag-s-railway-guest-h
