Illustration of Belvedere House, 1838, by the Anglo-Indian merchant and artist William Prinsep. The estate belonged to the family, who sold it to the East India Company in 1854.

The Belvedere Estate consists of Belvedere House and the 30-acre (12 ha) grounds surrounding it. It is located in Alipore, near the zoo, in Kolkata. In 1858, after the Governor-General moved out, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal took up residence in Belvedere House. When the capital moved from Kolkata to Delhi in 1911, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, who had hitherto resided in Belvedere House, was upgraded to a full governor and transferred to Government House. Belvedere House has been the home of the National Library of India since 1948.

History

In 1760, Mir Jafar Ali Khan, the Nawab of the province of Bengal, was compelled by the East India Company to abdicate his throne at Murshidabad to Qasim Khan. Mir Jafar moved to Kolkata where he owned a large court house, and settled within the safety of East India Company fortifications at Alipore. While he was in Kolkata, he built many buildings in the area and gifted Belvedere House to Warren Hastings.[1]

After the Battle of Buxar in 1764 Hastings left for England, but returned to Kolkata as governor in 1772 and to Belvedere House with Baroness Inhoff by his side.[2]

Hastings sold Belvedere House to Major William Tolly for Rs. 60,000 in February 1780.[3] The grounds of Belvedere Estate were witness to a duel between Warren Hastings and his legal officer, Philip Francis, in August 1780.[4] Tolly died in 1784 and his family sold the property in 1802.[3] It was subsequently acquired by James Mackillop, who sold it to the Prinsep family in June 1841. The Prinsep company sold it on to the East India Company, for use as the official residence of the Governors-General of the Presidency of Fort William, in 1854.[5][6]

However, following the transfer of power from the East India Company to the British Government, the distinction of official residence of the Governors-General of the Presidency of Fort William was transferred to Government House, in 1858.[7]

Frederick Halliday was appointed as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal and, in 1858, he took up residence at Belvedere House.[8] When the capital moved from Kolkata to Delhi in 1911, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, who had hitherto resided in Belvedere House, was upgraded to a full governor and transferred to Government House.[9]

National Library of India, Kolkata, has been housed in Belvedere House since 1948.

After independence, in 1948, the National Library of India was transferred from The Esplanade to Belvedere House. [10][11]

The complex now includes within it, two housing colonies built by the government, one being for National Library of India employees, and the other for central government employees. The main building is under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Where Kolkata's most powerful man lived, loved, schemed and fought". My Kolkata. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  2. ^ Moses, Mohandas; Moulik, Achala (2009). Dialogue of Civilizations William Jones and the Orientalists. Aryan Books International. p. 94. ISBN 978-8173053634.
  3. ^ a b James, Diane Evelyn Trenchard (1 September 2019). "'An endless variety of Forms and Proportions': Indian Influence on British Gardens and Garden Buildings c.1760 to c.1865" (PDF). University of Warwick. p. 53. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  4. ^ Wolpert, Stanley (2004) [First published 1977]. A New History of India (7th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-19-516677-4.
  5. ^ Nair, P. Thankappan (2004). Echoes from Belvedere Home of National Library, Kolkata. Associated Book Agency. p. 56.
  6. ^ "Raj Bhavan, Kolkata Chapter VII: Belvedere and Darjeeling" (PDF). Raj Bhavan, Kolkata. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Colonial names removed from Kolkata Raj Bhawan suites". Asian Voice. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  8. ^ O'Malley, L. S. S. (2009) [1914]. Parganas: Bengal District Gazetteers (Reprinted ed.). New Delhi: Logos Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-81-7268-193-7. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  9. ^ Danvers, F.C. (22 June 2016). Bengal: Its Chiefs, Agents, and Governors. Forgotten Books. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-1332869954.
  10. ^ a b "A long shelf life". Mint Lounge. 15 November 2012.
  11. ^ "History of the National Library: From the Imperial Library to the National Library". National Library of India. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2012.

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