Gordon House, Mysuru. Alamy.com |
‘Gordon Park’ that houses the DC office was named after Sir James Davidson Gordon, the British Administrator, who was the guardian of Maharajah Chamaraja Wadiyar who ascended the throne at the age of five and his mother was the Regent. Sir Gordon took care of his education and guided him with the administration till he became an adult to act on his own. One of the heritage buildings in Mysuru city which is more than 127 year old, it is said its foundation was laid on June 20, 1887 and the work was completed in 1895. the cost of construction was Rs.1,75 lakh. However, clear records are not available about the structure.
(DC Office) Gordon House, Mysuru.foursquare.com |
The building constructed at a cost of Rs. 1.75 lakh had two halls and 27 rooms which served as the offices and chambers. An interesting historical fact is it was in this building the Mysore Representative Assembly was held during the reign of the Wadiyar family in the early 1900s.
The architecture followed here is that of European with two halls and 27 large airy rooms which served as the offices and chambers. the unique design element is that of an octogonal dome at the center Atop it there is a finial with a double knob. The finial is on a well made square drum, arches and corinthian pilasters. The open verandahs have high ceiling.
A palatial building with a built-up area of over 30,000 sq ft on a huge plot of 92 acres open space - greenery, it housed ‘Attara Kacheri’ with other departments. The Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mysuru was then known as ‘Attara Kacheri’. For effective management administration was divided into 18 departments with a head answerable to the Dewan and the ruler Chikkadevaraja Wadiyar (1673 to 1704). The building then housed the District Treasury, District Excise Office, Office of the Superintendent of Police, the District Forest Office, Revenue Records Room, etc.
Once the DC office moves out it is said that the old heritage building would be retained by the Revenue Department and the State Government would take serious measures to preserve and conserve the heritage structure.
Tit-bits:
New DC office, Mysuru. starofmysore.com |
Above image: Located on Mysuru-Bannur Double Road in Siddharthanagar, is a new structure which resembles Lalitha Mahal Palace, one of the seven places built by the royal wadiyar family way in the past.
This new building that came up on a 15 acre plot covering 23000 sq. m of built up area with all facilities was not occupied for a long time. Work on the new building began in 2016 - foundation stone laid in August and completed in the past March 2019. It was done by by Karnataka Public Works and other department. The cost involved was about Rs.85 crore for the project. The purpose of the structure with a basement, ground, first and second floors was to bring all the district administration under one roof so that official work would be expedited as quickly as possible. It was inaugurated on March 10, 2018, by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah weeks before the last elections to the Assembly. That the new building - the new Deputy Commissioner’s office remained unoccupied had become a talk of the town. However, In August 2019 certain Offices at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office near Crawford Hall in city moved over silently to the new District Offices Complex (DC Office) on the German Press premises at Siddarthanagar.
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