Constructed around 1835, by Sir Thomas Metcalfe, the Governor-General’s agent at the Imperial court of the Mughal Emperor and then the commissioner of Delhi during the years of 1835 to 1853, a few years before the turmoil of the first war of independence had set in. During Metcalfe’s lifetime, the house was the centre of all European social life. The contemporary writing loathes it of its praises. The 1857 event caused serious damage to the building as an act of defiance of symbols. From the 1920s to 1926, it hosted sessions of the Council of State, which eventually paved down the path for present-day Rajya-Sabha. It was also the building, where the first batch of the civil services of India (ICS) was felicitated by the Iron man of India-Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. At present, it houses the office of the Defence Scientific Information & Documentation Centre.

Cover Photo by V.V. Krishnan