Building for Modernity in Post Uprising Colonial India: Sanderson’s Survey and other Tales of Modern Indian Architecture

Abstract

The post uprising colonial modern state zealously ushered modernity in the Indian Subcontinent. In the domain of architecture it produced a building frenzy from implementation of urban improvement schemes to raising infrastructure including buildings patronised by the government, Indian rulers and the masses. In a departure from the state’s view to impose the Eurocentric, universal idea of modernity as the only legitimate form of architectural expression, the corpus of buildings built at the turn of the century was a hybrid product of entanglement of tradition and modernity. Indeed, the various actors engaged in the production of buildings, from patrons to designers including architects and Mistris (craftsmen) negotiated modernity on their own individual terms in the absence of any established framework. Types of buildings ranged from state buildings for governance to opulent princely palaces to innumerable every day buildings. This Paper examines the many trajectories of architectural expression that prevailed in the Indian Subcontinent at the turn of the century and argues that the notion of modernity was not homogenous and was characterised by hybridity. It further asserts that this extant building corpus should get its due as modern heritage and be conserved today.