Raisina power house to history hub

NEW DELHI: It's a power house of history on Raisina Hill. An electric sub-station that not only lights up the President's home , but also inspires awe with its Victorian facade . Built in the 1920s to house a sub-station ,thisbuilding near Rashtrapati Bhavan is the oldest utility structure with architectural value .
Now, it's going to be conserved and restored by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) andturnedinto a museum to showcase British era switch-gears .Its strategic location on Dalhousie Road has prompted the civic body to revive the building to its original form . Work on this project is likely to start by August .
NDMC officials said while there are no records of the original architect , it was probably designed by a British architect or engineer in Lutyens' team . It's an imposing structure built of brick , stone and steel — very unusual to have been designed to only house an electrical sub-station .
The building's location and its architectural design sets it apart from normal utility building .Ithasbeen builtin the neo-classical style of the 1920s, but ornamented with Dholpur stone plasters at the entrance .
NDMC is planning to remove the paint and plaster to allow visibility of bricks and stones beneath . It will then be chemically treated to make it waterproof . "There is an eight-foot high wall around the compound that shields it from public view . We will bring down this wall to one foot," said an official .
The building essentially houses a large hall of about 30 feet with two square rooms built at a lower height . Other rooms seem to have been built later . Other buildings were also built within the compound as temporary sheds which also includes a temple . It also has a mezzanine floor built on the rear half of the hall .
The original building block has been constructed with load-bearing brickwork, jack arches and brick vaults . "This is the same structural system adopted for the construction of Connaught Place. The power sub-station supplies power to Rashtrapati Bhawan , originally called the Vice-Regal Lodge , and bungalows in the vicinity ," said an official . The ground-floor blocks have no windows at all — an indication that the architect had given a thought to the operational needs of the structure and obscured view of the electrical equipment on the ground floor . "At the same time , the upper level of the 30-foot high central hall contains large windows on all sides bringing in light into the hall from all sides.
It seems the electrical substation was part of the larger triangular site surrounded by Dalhousie Road and Thyagraj Road as the boundary wall is not well defined . On all three sides of the site, land is occupied by temporary barracks andother structuresof armed forces that came up during and after World War II.