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COLONIAL PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
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THE EMPRESS MARKET (finished 1889)

Old Pictures

       

Present

       

   

    The Empress Market was built to commemorate the silver jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria, Empress of India. The foundation stone of the Empress Market was laid by Bombay's Governor, James Ferguson in 1884, who also laid the foundation of the Merewether Memorial Tower. Unfortunately however, due to a shortage of funds, construction progress on the market went slow and it was opened five years later in 1889. 

    The market was constructed at a well-chosen site that was clearly visible from a great distance. The site of the market had historical significance as it was situated on the grounds where a number of native sepoys were executed in a ruthless fashion after the Indian Rising of 1857 (The Ghaddar). Accounts mention that the sepoys had their heads blown off by canon balls in an attempt to suppress any mutinous feelings among the locals.

    Empress Market was designed by city engineer James Strachan in the Domestic Gothic style. It was a symmetrical building designed around a courtyard, with an atrium at the entrance. The market had a frontage of 231 ft on Preedy Street, and had four galleries 46 ft wide surrounding a central courtyard measuring 130 ft x 100 ft. The design utilized delicately carved column capitals, carved stone brackets supporting the balcony projections, as well as lots of other carved elements that demonstrated the skill of the local craftsmen employed in its construction. The tall central tower was built to a height of 140 ft. This imposing clock tower was twelve feet higher than that of the Crawford Markets of Bombay, and had a large chiming clock (which unfortunately no longer works). Skeleton clock dials were placed on all four sides of the tower. The market was surrounded by gardens because of which, the area came to be regarded as the Empress Market Gardens by the people of Karachi.

    At the time of its completion, the Empress Market was one of seven markets of Karachi, and its galleries provided accommodation to 280 shops and stall keepers.  Commissioner Pritchard, while delivering its opening address, remarked that the only market in the Bombay Presidency which surpassed Empress Market was the Crawford Market of Bombay, with which it invariably drew a lot of comparisons.
(adapted from Lari, 1996)

Current Threats:

A present day satellite view of the market showing the dense encroachments around it.

    The magnificent Empress Market is also unfortunately one of the most neglected and threatened heritage buildings in Karachi. After the creation of Pakistan, the market's gardens were encroached upon by stall owners who slowly made their ugly structures permanent. Presently, the building and its area is densely occupied by a ramshackle wholesale market with unsightly stalls and shops that have very little regard for the heritage building. The surrounding gardens have been completely taken over by stall owners, and the traffic and people congestion resulting from the market has completely eclipsed the elegance and majesty of the original structure. The filth generated by the store keepers around the area has also made its environs dirty. A lot of ill-designed plazas have also sprung up around the market that obstruct its views from other parts of the city.

    There is an urgent need to relocate the wholesale market to another location and for a thorough restoration of the market so that this landmark of Karachi can be saved and preserved in its original form for posterity.

 

SINDH MADARSAH-TUL-ISLAM (finished 1889)

   

       

 

   

HISTORY OF THE MADARSAH

    The Sindh Madarsah was founded in 1885 by Khan-Bahadur Hassanally Effendi Bey-Majidi, as a high school for the education of Musalman (Muslim) boys, drawing inspiration from Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's Aligarh Muslim Association. When this significant institution was established, initially in a hired building opposite Boulton Market, Hassanally faced a lot of opposition from Hindus and Muslims alike. The school was labeled "the Madarsah of the devils" and abusive letters were addressed to Hassanally Effendi. The Madarsah moved to its own building and current premises when it was finished in 1889, and later served as alma mater to a number of illustrious personalities including the famous educationist Shamsul-Ulema Daudpota, and barristers Hassanally Rehman, and A. K. Brohi. Quaid-e-Aazum Muhammad Ali Jinnah was also a student of this school.

THE BUILDING

    The foundation stone of the Sindh Madarsah building was laid on November 14th, 1887, by the then Viceroy of India Lord Dufferin, in a spectacle that was witnessed by many in Karachi. The building was finished in 1889 and cost a total of Rs. 197,188 of which half was paid by the government whereas the remainder was raised through contributions from local boards and support by important personalities such as the Nawab of Junagadh and the Nizam of Hyderabad Deccan. The Madarsah was built on an earlier location of the Municipal Camel Encamping Grounds of the Serai Quarters of the city -- a location where kafilahs (camel caravans) from Central Asia used to encamp at till the late 1870s.

    The building of the Sindh Madarsah was designed by James Strachan in the domestic Gothic style. Its plan has rooms grouped around a central courtyard or a quadrangle, similar to Strachan's design of the Empress Market. The courtyard has deep arcaded verandahs providing access to the classrooms. Two diagonally oriented, single story structures are linked to the two eastern corners of the building, which functioned as separate mosques for students hailing from the Sunni or the Shiite sects. There are early-English styled pointed arches on the ground floor windows and a clock tower that are both reminiscent of the Empress Market. In the facade arcading, ogive arches are used for the ground floor whereas Tudor arches are used for the first floor. The building was constructed out of local Gizri sandstone.

    The grounds of the Sindh Madarsah encompassed 31,404 sq. yards and were provided by the Municipality free of charge. Recreational facilities, staff accommodation and several boarding houses were constructed on these grounds. Some of the buildings made included the principal's bungalow (mid 1890's), a boarding house for young Talpurs (1901), Hasanally Hostel (1909), and the Khairpur Hostel funded by the Mir of Khairpur (1910).

    At present, the facade of the Sindh Madarsah is not visible from the road because of shops that have been built in front and around it to fund its operation. This has resulted in a loss of character for this historic building.

 

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