Punjab - Colonial Architecture

Colonial Architecture

Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that synthesized the architecture of their countries of origin with the design characteristics of their new lands, creating hybrid designs.

As the indian sub continent including existing areas of Pakistan remained a colony of British Empire therefore there are several renonwned buildings in Punjab and Pakistan according to the Biritish architecture. In the British colonial age predominantly representative buildings of the Indo-European style developed, from a mixture of European and Indian-Islamic components.

Under British rule (1849–1947), colonial architecture in Lahore combined Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles. Under British rule, Sir Ganga Ram (sometimes referred to as the father of modern Lahore) designed and built the General Post Office, Lahore Museum, Aitchison College, Mayo School of Arts (now the NCA), Ganga Ram Hospital, Lady Mclagan Girls High School, the chemistry department of the Government College University, the Albert Victor wing of Mayo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram High School (now Lahore College for Women) the Hailey College of Commerce, Ravi Road House for the Disabled, the Ganga Ram Trust Building on Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, and the Lady Maynard Industrial School. He also constructed Model Town, a suburb that has recently developed into a cultural center for Lahore’s growing socioeconomic elite.

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The General Post Office and YMCA buildings in Lahore commemorated the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, an event marked by the construction of clock towers and monuments all over British India. Other important British buildings included the High Court, the Government College University, the museums, St. Anthony’s College, the National College of Arts, Montgomery Hall, Tollinton Market, the University of the Punjab (Old Campus) and the Provincial Assembly. Even today, Mall Road retains a variety of Gothic and Victorian style buildings built during the British Raj. At one end of The Mall stands the university, one of the most prestigious universities of Pakistan. The British also launched the city’s first horse-racing club in 1924, starting a tradition that continues today at the Lahore Race Club. Other renowned buildings are Punjab Assembly Hall, Lahore High Court, General Post Office (GPO), Lahore Museum, Punjab University, Tollinton Market and the Lahore Railway Station.