Abstract
The colonial structures that still stand today in India are the product of careful fabrication of British thought. The British government was afraid of what kind of legacy they would leave behind when exiting India in 1947. Today, years after the independence of India, one is still able to see such a legacy in stone: the colonial architecture and cities that are still in existence. The styles of architecture employed by the British Raj were systematically chosen, dependent on the location and utilization of a given city. The British were trying to consecrate their power through architectural representation. Trying to legitimize British rule, architects wanted to tie the architecture of the British with former Indian rulers, yet still create an effect of British grandeur. The examples illustrate that location and utilization were indeed crucial determinants of colonial style.
Highlights
INTENTIONS OF THE BRITISH IN EARLY 18TH CEN-PRESENTING A BRITISHIDENTITY THROUGH ARCHITECTUREBritish presence in India was focused in the major port cities that revolved around trade
It is an incorrect assumption to state that no architecture was built in India during these early years of British presence; still one is able to see that the intentions for the architecture were drastically different when compared to those structures built under the formation of the British Raj
This ideal Thomas Metcalf describes as including the national identity of the British.i The British constructed an image of themselves during the eighteenth century that presented them as distinct, special, and superior to those colonial areas where they felt they had the right to rule
Summary
British presence in India was focused in the major port cities that revolved around trade. Of these major areas include Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay. Buildings used for housing and trade posts were construed by them as little else was needed by the East India Trading Company to continue with their profitable pursuits. These structures, labeled „factories‟, contained storehouses, barracks, a director‟s house, and other accommodations found necessary by the Britishii. Studied under the following headings: 1. Military architecture-forts and cantonments
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