Lutyens' Delhi

Lutyens' Delhi
Lutyens' Delhi
Neighborhood
	Lutyens' Delhi Location in Delhi, India
	Coordinates: 28°38′8.74″N 77°13′28.02″E / 28.6357611°N 77.2244500°E
Country	India
Union Territory	Delhi
District	New Delhi
Named for	Sir Edwin Lutyens

Lutyens' Delhi is an area in New Delhi, India, named after the British architect Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944), who was entrusted with the vast majority of the architectural design and buildings of the city that subsequently emerged as New Delhi during the period of the British Raj. Lutyens' Delhi progressively developed over the period from 1912 to 1931. This also includes the Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBZ).

Lutyens designed four bungalows in the Viceroy House Estate (now known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan Estate); today, these bungalows lie on the Mother Teresa Crescent (then Willingdon Crescent). Lutyens, apart from designing the Viceroy's House, spearheaded the design and oversaw construction of large government buildings and was involved in town planning too.^[1]

Herbert Baker, who also designed with the Secretariat Buildings, designed bungalows on the then King George's Avenue (south of the Secretariats) for high-ranking officials of the British Empire. Other members of the team of architects were Robert Tor Russell, who built Connaught Place, the Eastern and Western Courts on Janpath, Teen Murti House (formerly called Flagstaff House), Safdarjung Airport (formerly Willingdon Airfield), Irwin Amphitheatre (renamed Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium) and several government houses,^[2] William Henry Nicholls, CG Blomfield, FB Blomfield, Walter Sykes George, Arthur Gordon Shoosmith and Henry Medd.^[1]^[3]

It was included in the 2002 World Monuments Watch list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites, curated by the World Monuments Fund, a heritage organization headquartered in New York.^[4]

History

The area was constructed following the decision of the imperial British administration to relocate the capital of the Indian Empire from Calcutta to Delhi, thereby heralding the conception of a new district of the latter entitled New Delhi.

Before the new imperial capital was established in 1911, the Delhi Junction Railway Station served the Agra-Delhi railways: the line cut through what is today called Lutyens' Delhi. The line was eventually shifted to make way for the new capital and the New Delhi Railway Station was constructed near the Mughal-era Ajmeri Gate in 1926.^[5]

Design and construction

Lutyens led a group of architects in chiseling the central administrative area of the city, with the mandate of retaining one-third of the area as green space.^{[citation needed]} At the heart of the city was the imposing Viceroy's House (which now serves as the Indian President's primary residence and is referred to as the Rashtrapati Bhawan), the seat of the Governor General of India, located atop the Raisina Hill. The Kingsway (now known as the Rajpath) boulevard connects India Gate (formerly known as All India War Memorial) to Rashtrapati Bhawan, while Janpath (formerly Queensway), which intersects it orthogonally, connects South End Road (renamed to Rajesh Pilot Marg) with Connaught Place.

The Secretariat Building, which houses various ministries of the Government of India, including the Prime Minister's Office, straddles the Rashtrapati Bhawan and was designed by Herbert Baker. Also designed by Baker was the Parliament House (previously known as the Council House), which is located on Sansad Marg, and runs parallel to the Rajpath. Two magnificent cathedrals in the area, the Anglican Cathedral Church of the Redemption and Catholic Sacred Heart Cathedral, were designed by Henry Medd.^[6]^[7]

Lutyens Bungalow Zone

The Lutyens Bungalow Zone covers an area spanning approximately 26 km². All land and buildings in the LBZ belong to the Union Government, except for 254.5 acres (103.0 ha) that are privately-owned. It is an illustrious and opulent enclave in New Delhi. There are about 1000 bungalows in the LBZ, of which less than ten percent are in private hands.^[8]

In furtherance of establishing development control norms, the Ministry of Urban Development constituted the New Delhi Redevelopment Advisory Committee (NDRAC) in 1972 when the redevelopment of the areas around the walled city, north of Connaught Place and on Prithviraj Road, was taken up.^[9]

Land prices

In 2013, it was reported that the market value of the 254.5 acres (103.0 ha) of land in private hands in the LBZ increased eightfold in the previous ten years, from around ₹6,100 crore (US$710 million) to ₹49,000 crore (US$5.7 billion).^[10]

In June 2014, Rajiv Rattan, the co-founder of the Indian conglomerate Indiabulls, purchased a 2,920-square-yard (2,440 m²) plot for ₹220 crore (US$26 million).^[8]^[11]

In December 2016, Renuka Talwar, daughter of DLF chairman KP Singh, acquired a bungalow on Prithviraj Road for ₹435 crore (US$51 million) which was dubbed one of the biggest property deals in Lutyens' Delhi.^[12]

Contiguous areas

In the vicinity of the vast green expanse of the LBZ is a thick swathe of green, a glacis of trees, manicured lawns, and grand buildings, that afford an impregnable environmental cushion to the LBZ from the swirl and swarm of Delhi's congestion: to the west is the vast, ancient wooded area of the Delhi Ridge, adjoining the grand acres of the Presidential Estate; to the west and south is Nehru Park, the Race Course, an Indian Air Force station, the Delhi Gymkhana Club, Safdarjung Airport, the mid-eighteenth century Safdarjang Tomb, and the Diplomatic Enclave; to the south is the Lodi Gardens, with its baroque and imposing Lodhi-era tombs, and imperial remnants; to the southeast are great lavishly tended greens of Delhi Golf Club, with its Mughal-era ruins; beyond the Golf course, hemming the edges of the LBZ, is the green stretch of the National Zoological Park, lakes, the Purana Qila, and the Humayun's Tomb. The contiguous areas are lavished with as much preponderance of care by the government as is devoted to the LBZ. Those priced out the exorbitant realty prices in the LBZ purchase real estate in the contiguous areas like Jor Bagh, where property prices are almost as steep as in the LBZ.^[9]

Notable residents

The official residence of the Prime Minister of India is at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg; the road, designed off-limits to civilians and ordinary traffic, spans a complex of five bungalows, spread over 12 acres (4.9 ha). The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also resides in the LBZ.^[13] He was allotted a Type VIII bungalow at 3 Motilal Nehru Marg (formerly known as York Road), which was previously occupied by the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, on 27 February 2014 by Kamal Nath, the Union Minister of Urban Development, on account of his being a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are some of the other prominent politicians who lived at 10, Janpath. Former prime ministers who are not Members of Parliament are not entitled to a government bungalow; however, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, another former Prime Minister who did not serve as a constituent of either houses of the Indian Parliament, resided in a bungalow on Krishna Menon Marg from 2005 until his death in 2018.^[14]