BANGALORE: Bangalore Town Hall, once known and reputed for it’s amiable interiors give a look of a ramshackle building. Dating back almost a century ago, to the year 1933, this prehistoric instalment was constructed during the age of the Wodeyars. Although it still retains it’s outer charm and grandiose, the interior infrastructure is in a pitiable state. It was last renovated in 1990 due to improper acoustics, but today the building is finding it hard to carry on through the long years. Clearly depicting the classical European style of architecture, this majestic stone building gives you an aura of entering a pre-independent India, with spacious and airy front verandas and huge tuscan columns, adorning the front porch. But as you make your way through the building to the two floored auditoriums, a stale stench wafts up. The once plush teak woodwork, now creaks with every step and one must look down constantly in fear of tripping over a loose plank. Raja, who perpetually attends functions at the Town Hall, informed City Express, “ I used to be a regular at town hall a few years ago, but what with the dust that sticks to the carpets and walls covered with cobwebs. Frankly, I am afraid of spoiling my health due to my immense allergy for dust. This makes it evident that maintenance is negligible.”The chairs are damaged, some seats are missing or even broken completely. Though the upper auditorium is spacious, the walls have developed a huge hole and wires are poking out in all angles. “Due to the present pathetic state of the hall, we will be renovating it in a couple of months. The building is extremely old, which makes it difficult go ahead. Things have been going haywire for some reason and delay in the renovation work. Even the cost for renovation is high, it has taken a while for us to put things together,” says Srikante Gowda, Executive Engineer of the building.Town Hall , a place in the midst of a realm con-coursed with modern skyscrapers has managed to retain it’s historic grace from the outside. We can only hope that the renovations will help to maintain it’s integrity and not push people away.
Comments
0 comment