Concrete folklore

[Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker and Imperial Delhi by Robert Grant Irving - July 1, 1983. The best book on the planning and design of New Delhi, April 9, 1998 This review is by bagchee@bigfoot.com (Delhi, India) - See all my reviews

New Delhi's systematic lay-out is the highest evolution of rational principles. The Vicregal Palace together with the Secretariat blocks occupies the highest point- Raisina hill. In defence of !this site Lutyens quoted from the Bible ' the city on the hill cannot be hid'…

Lutyens deliberately avoided an 'Indian style' because he felt that there was none such- each ruler had merely imposed his conventions and indeed Indian buildings are modest in their structure and ground-plans. Most cover this up with a profusion of decorative elements, but again Lutyens shunned this over-richness for a more austere and formal style. This was also necessitated by the raging controversy over whether Delhi should have a Muslim or Hindu architecture, which threatened to incite communal riots. Insofar as Lutyens borrows form Indian structures it is from Buddhist stupas such as the one at Sanchi, for their bold simple lines struck a chord. For the rest, the wealth of floral and geometric patterns, not to speak of animal carvings that India has produced are subtly woven into the whole. This book covers the entire history of the evolution of New Delhi.  

Re-orientations: essays on Asia in transition, Hugh Tinker - 1965 - 175 pages

By giving the ramp a steep incline, Baker (intentionally or not) succeeded in masking the Viceroy's House so that only its dome is visible from Kingsway, while the pillared Secretariat stands out supreme. Lutyens broke off the ...

The city in the Asian polity: an inaugural lecture delivered on 28 ..., Hugh Tinker - 1964 - 29 pages

It may not be too fanciful to suggest that the famous quarrel between Lutyens and Baker possessed symbolic overtones. Lutyens had supposed that a gently sloping ramp between the two wings of the Secretariat would serve to reveal the ...

The letters of Edwin Lutyens to his wife Lady Emily, Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, Clayre Percy, Jane Ridley... - 1985 - 454 pages

Lutyens maintained that Baker had agreed that Viceroy's House should be visible along the whole of the approach, ... At the root of the quarrel lay conflicting views of empire and of art.

Journal of the Royal Society of Arts Royal Society of Arts (Great Britain) – 1981

Lutyens and Baker, originally friends, quarrelled over the gradient of the approach to Viceroy's House between Baker's rwo ... As a result of this unhappy quarrel, Baker's contribution to the city -which as well as the Secretariats ...

Bandobust, a raj experience 2003 - 362 pages

The incline of the wide road that leads up to the Viceregal Palace and separates the North and South Blocks was the subject of an acrimonious controversy between Lutyens and Baker, both erstwhile friends. Very few Indians know about ...

The imagination of Vanbrugh and his fellow artists, Laurence Whistler - 1954 - 269 pages

Lutyens wanted to remedy this, with a gently inclined ramp channelled between the Secretariats. Baker opposed him — and won. And the conflict became a classic architectural quarrel. The parallel is not exact; for it is one thing (by all ...

The Journal of imperial and commonwealth history Taylor & Francis – 1998

But Lutyens was no match for Baker in dealing with officialdom, the more so as changing the gradient would have ... a decision made at Baker's instance to which he had willingly agreed. For Lutyens the quarrel did not end there. ...

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London. School of Oriental and ... – 1982

The confusion about the treatment of the ramp leading up to this complex resulted in the celebrated quarrel between Lutyens and Baker. The author outlines this unfortunate incident while acknowledging the monumentally of Baker's designs ... Robert Grant Irving: Indian summer: Lutyens, Baker and Imperial ... by G Michell – 2009

Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker and Imperial Delhi: A Review Article by M Wright – 1983

Lutyens had really only himself to blame over the 'disappearing climax' quarrel. ... But Lutyens and Baker are still there. The President of India ...

India's Theaters of Independence by S Khilnani - 1997 - Cited by 2 - Related articles
altitude explains something of Lutyens's rage during his famous "gradient quarrel" withBaker. So eager was he to acquire the actual summit ...

Rashtrapati Bhawan New Delhi, The President House Delhi, Travel ...

As you head towards the west, on the broad Rajpath, you will experience an elevation in the gradient, and so in your spirits. And that's when you think of Sir Herbert Baker, a South African architect, and a quarrel. Sir Lutyens knew he would be overstressed by the Raisina Hill project and had urged the appointment of Baker, who had fostered reams of praise for his Union Buildings in Pretoria. Ah! yes, the hump and the infamous squabble. That little miscalculation simultaneously led to an irreversible dent on the face of the palace together with an epithet to Baker by Lutyens, describing the whole incident as 'Bakerloo'.]

The imposing Rashtrapati Bhawan remains invisible to tourists on Rajpath because Lutyens lost and Baker won. The dispute over Matrimandir construction also, despite prima-facie validity, is destined to circulate as folklore or legend of its mythology, or at best, float as a footnote to its history. Watch out for travel brochures, folks. [TNM]