Grim fate awaits vintage mansion

RAWALPINDI:

Once a majestic mansion sprawling 45 rooms adorned with English tiles and Kashmiri wood carvings, the 130-year-old Sajan Singh Haveli is a sorry sight with its crumbling façade, abandoned rooms, creeping foliage and a mesh of wires.

Built in 1893, the mansion is located in the heart of Rawalpindi’s densely populated Bhabra Bazaar. It has seven gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) and a temple.

A heritage site with exceptional architecture, several attempts for its upkeep have failed to take off. The last one, in 2020, saw the Rawalpindi commissioner get approval from the Punjab government but Rs400 million restoration project didn’t see the light of day despite getting the go ahead.

The situation for the mansion has reaching breaking point. Its balconies and terraces, doors and windows, corridors and staircases have visible signs of wear and tear, with parts of the structure falling off.

The fences are torn and doors unhinged. The sidewalks have sunk into the streets and the corridors are covered in moss. There are also fears that the foundations have weakened and the main roof has developed cracks and can fall.

The heritage structure was built by Sardar Rai Bahadur Sujan Singh, a wealthy Sikh merchant. Its foundation stone was laid in 1890 and the mansion was completed in three years. The 24,000-square feet building has four storeys and 45 rooms. Four of its large halls had Victorian-style furniture.

The palace housed the merchant’s family, but he subsequently gave it to a Sikh general to use as residential headquarters. The two floors of the mansion were used by guards who monitored the situation outside.

According to historians, the doors and windows were imported from Britain. The mansion also made extensive use of iron to reinforce its doors and windows which sported intricate grillwork. It involved the best architectural minds, with the four stories joined by a bridge on each side of the street.

The façade of the building is fortified, indicating that the family that lived there was a noble family of the era. On either side, there are sizable entrances.

The Sikh family also owned another royal palace on Mall Road, which now houses Fatima Jinnah Women's University.

Over the years, the Sajan Singh Haveli has housed a variety of people. It included Kashmiri refugees and those from India at the time of Partition in 1947.

Sources within the district administration say that the Punjab government formed another committee and tasked it with reviewing the mansion’s situation. The committee suggested a number of ideas, including restoring Sajjan Singh Haveli to its former state and establishing a food street in the nearby streets, the sources continued.

However, on paper, nothing has taken plan to suggest that the government has any plans to renovate this historical site, they added.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2023.