Fort St. George to lose some of its heritage as structures are slated for demolition

Explore the decay and impending demolition of historic structures at Fort St. George, highlighting the importance of preserving colonial history.

Each time I lead a heritage walk at Fort St. George, I come away a little depressed. The general squalor there is enough to put off even the most ardent heritage lover. The best you can say about the place is that it has a collection of buildings in various stages of decay, barring the few showpieces of course. In that latter list, I include the Assembly and Secretariat (which too has some ham-handed restoration to mar its beauty), the Church of St. Mary’s, the ASI’s headquarters, the Museum, and the Embarkation Headquarters of the Navy. Of the rest, there is very little to write home about, barring tales of their past glory.

Last week I was there again and was informed by reliable sources that as many as three structures are slated for demolition, these having been de-notified by the Archaeological Survey of India on grounds of structural stability. These are Arthur Wellesley’s house, the so-called Clive’s library in the possession of the navy and a third, which is said to be one of the army barracks, which is soon slated to make way for a parking lot. All three buildings have been in various stages of collapse, which is a sound argument for bringing them down on grounds of safety, but the question is, how were they allowed to get that way?

Arthur Wellesley’s house was a remarkable building in its time, decreed to be the finest residence in the Fort, completed in the 1790s. Its first resident was Arthur Wellesley, younger brother to the then Governor General, Richard Wellesley, Earl of Mornington. The junior Wellesley was sent here to plot the end of Tipu Sultan and though his role in the ensuing battle of Srirangapatna was questionable, the final objective was fulfilled. Tipu was killed and Arthur was promoted in the army. He fared far better against the Marathas at Assaye but greater glory awaited him in England when he defeated Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo. He became the Duke of Wellington and was Prime Minister of England, twice.

Wellesley’s house remained a strong building till the 1950s, after which wanton neglect ensured it collapsed in a cyclone in the 1990s. Incredibly enough, though the building still features in the ASI’s list of ‘protected monuments’ it was allowed to remain as debris, with a banyan tree taking root and growing several feet. It is this debris that is now to be cleared.

There is not much history on Clive’s Library and the name is of doubtful provenance but between the ASI and the Navy they allowed enough time for a tree to wrap itself around the building. It came to a stage when it became difficult to distinguish between tree and structure and a few months ago, the tree fell, bringing down a part of the building. And so, on to demolition. Of the barracks I am not too sure, but I sincerely hope it is not historic Kings Barracks which is in a shocking state.

This article is sure to receive feedback from the new breed of patriots asking as to why colonial history needs to be preserved. My answer to that is that first, we need to keep the past just to remind future generations about how easy it was to lose freedom and how difficult it was to get it back. Secondly, we have had over 75 years of Indian administration from here for these buildings to merit preservation.

Each year, a tour of the Fort gets shorter. And the ASI needs to bestir itself.