22-04-2025
160-year-old Bengaluru heritage building gets new lease of life as public space for a noble cause
As you walk down Kamaraj Street in Bengaluru, a newcomer may not realise that the building opposite the Sri Vittoba Temple is over a century old. Known as Sabha, it has undergone significant changes over the years but has now been restored to its original appearance, reminiscent of the time when Rao Bahadur Arcot Narrainswamy Mudaliar, a well-known philanthropist, built it over 160 years ago.
RBANM's Educational Charities, founded by Mudaliar, owns the building and seemed to have been run as a school for some time past 1945, according to surviving documents. The premises lay unused for over a decade when the Ammini Trust undertook the restoration efforts.
V Ravichandar, who runs the trust alongside his wife Hema, said, 'I was aware of the building about five-six years ago and brought some potential donors to restore it, but it did not work out. We decided to do it ourselves as it was a project worth doing.'
Ravichandar was previously involved in constructing another public space, the Bangalore International Centre, and is one of the major forces behind the Bangalore Literature Festival each year.
He added, 'We have shrinking public spaces in the city… A lot of buildings like this are coming down. Hopefully, somebody else could be inspired to restore a building like this instead of bringing it down.'
Apart from two courtyards, the location has two buildings. The older one, dating back 160 years, is a flat-roofed 'Madras terrace' reinforced from below with teak wood beams. The other building, around 130 years old, features sloped roofs and circular rose windows that were in vogue then.
Due to the various complications and damage from age and water, he estimated that the project cost was 40 per cent higher than building it from scratch. (Express Photo)
However, it was not all smooth sailing. The age of the building necessitated the aid of specialist carpenters from Kerala and a veteran adviser in the field from Vadodara, R J Vasavada.
Ravichandar noted, 'These buildings were made with lime mortar with jaggery as a binder. We have followed the same principles to restore the Madras terrace. Several wooden beams had to be replaced, with the bent beams re-used as rafters… We have stayed true to the design principles which were followed at that time.'
Due to the various complications and damage from age and water, he estimated that the project cost was 40 per cent higher than building it from scratch.
Architect Bijoy Ramachandran, who also worked on the Bangalore International Centre, said, 'This is a low-lying area close to the Ulsoor Lake, so there is a lot of underground water just three or four feet below the surface. So a lot of the walls were damaged by water rising from below.'
'By inserting stone into the wall along the periphery, we stopped the water from climbing up the masonry and damaging it. We also added a set of perforated pipes under the floor so any water enters a drainage system. The roofs were also badly damaged over the replaced large portions of both the roofs,' added Ramachandran.
According to Ravichandar, Sabha is intended to be a self-sustaining venue. While it is owned by RBANM, the Ammini Trust will manage Sabha, which will be rented out for artistic and cultural events. Surplus income will be used to benefit underprivileged children, sixty of whom have signed up for art classes at the venue, which was formally opened on April 12.
Interested visitors may find the building opposite the Sri Vittoba Temple on Kamaraj Road, some distance past Commercial Street, and can enter the building using a side entrance.
