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COLONIAL PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
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KARACHI PORT TRUST BUILDING (1915)
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The impressive and imposing building of the Karachi Port Trust was completed during the First World War. This building, along with the Custom House built a year later, replaced another earlier existing building of the Custom House. The Port Trust Building was made to house the offices of the Karachi Port Trust, an establishment that traced its roots to the Karachi Harbour Board established in 1879 to look over the affairs of the Karachi Port. As the port grew in importance and prominence due to its wheat and cotton exports and also started to be utilized by the troops, the 'Commissioner-in-Sinde' was asked to form a Port Trust to replace the Harbour Board. The Port Trust Bill was consequently enacted in 1887, however, the organization acquired its first full-time chairman, Charles Mules, by 1909.
George Wittet , the Consulting Architect of the Bombay Presidency was the designer of this building who designed it in the general Renaissance style as opposed to using Anglo-Mughal architecture. Elements of Georgian architecture can also be found. The building is built out of Gizri sandstone and has a three story, segmental layout. The ground floor employs a rusticated arcade whereas the upper two stories are traced with repetitive window bays. Pilasters with capitals inspired from the Ionic order are placed in between window bays for the length of the building. The window bays themselves are divided by using small pilasters in the middle story, and small Doric columns in the top floor. The central entrance projects forward slightly, and is accentuated by a large arched window on the top floor. A lanterned cupola above the central entrance further emphasizes it, and gives the building a central focus. Both ends of the segmental building are also emphasized by projecting blocks with pedimented windows, which house staircases. An extension of the building towards the western side was also designed in 1919, however, it was built at a later date.
The Port Trust Building was completed at a cost of Rs. 974,990 and was inaugurated on January 5th, 1916 by the Marques of Willingdon (the governor of Bombay and later, Viceroy of India). A month after its inauguration, however, the building was converted to a 500-bed military hospital named as No. 1 India General Hospital. It functioned as a hospital for three years from February 1916 to May 1919 and was one of the 'five great War hospitals' run under General Fowler (ref. Lari, 1996).
The Imperial Custom House building was designed as a continuation of the Karachi Port Trust building and is architecturally very similar to the latter. However, the two are very distinct and separate buildings. Construction on the building immediately followed the construction of the Port Trust Building, starting in 1914 by when the latter building had been constructed to the first floor level. The pile-work for the building was done with reinforced concrete, in a similar way as had been employed at the new Bombay custom house. The Imperial Custom House building was finished in 1917.
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The foundation stone for the Victoria Museum was laid by the Duke of Connaught in 1887. It was originally designed by James Strachan, however, no building construction was undertaken until much later because of a lack of funds. When it was later constructed in 1916, a different design was adopted which points towards George Wittet as the architect owing to the similarity of the design with the Karachi Port Trust building. A simple layout has been utilized with classical elements. The central portico with Doric columns is crowned by a cupola to give the building its monumental essence.
The museum was built to honor the reign of Queen Victoria, and housed a collection of artifacts that had been initially started by Charles Napier. This collection was first kept at the Ladies Club (later, the Karachi Gymkhana), and then was housed in a museum in the Frere Hall. In 1892, it was transferred to the D. J. Sind College before being finally shifted to the newly constructed Victoria Museum (ref. Lari, 1996). The building was the first public museum constructed in the territory that is now included in Pakistan. After independence, the Victoria Museum building was used as the State Bank of Pakistan and later, as the offices of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board before being converted to a branch of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The government had agreed to convert this building into a museum once again, however, this plan doesn't seem to have been followed through.
BAI VIRBAIJEE KATRAK MATERNITY WING (LADY DUFFERIN HOSPITAL, 1916)
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