Viceregal Lodge and Botanical Gardens

In typically flamboyant Raj style, the Viceregal Lodge was designed by the Irish architect Henry Irwin and was built in 1888 for the Viceroy of India, which during the time was the Earl of Dufferin.

It became the official headquarters of The Empire used for almost seven months of Summer (March to October), until Indian independence in 1948. It was also used to discuss the partitioning of the sub-continent.

Accurately described by Lonely Planet as a mix between the Tower of London and Hogwarts, the opulence of such a building is frightening, especially when you think of all the materials required being transported up 2200 metres by mules.

The interior on the walls and ceilings, is made from Burmese teak and the floorboards from local pine. Almost all the features are original, including armchairs, a sprinkle system activated when temperature rise above 60 degrees and even electricity sockets!

You can enjoy a half hour guided tour of five of the lower rooms which includes the entrance hall, a meeting room, a waiting room and a room now converted to an old photographic gallery. You can also see the table where the Declaration of Independence was signed. I am in a group of about twenty Indian tourists, with 50% behaving badly! The guide scolds them in true teacher fashion!

The building was given an extravagant present to Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, and the post-doctorate students inhabit the upper levels of the building. Those must be some student digs!

Although the lawns are immaculate and the bedding neat, apart from marigolds, there was not many flowers despite the Spring weather. Qidditch anyone?

Admission costs Rp50 for foreigners and a Rp10 charge on cameras. It is open daily from 9.15am. The Lodge and Gardens can be found by sticking on The Mall heading west from Scandal Point for about4-5kms. Keep on the main trail; unfortunately it is not clearly signposted.

Other Henry Irwin buildings include:-
Madras High Court, Chennai,
Law College Buildings, Chennai
State Bank of Madras (now State Bank of India) Headquarters, Chennai
Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai
Madras & Maratha Railways Headquarters Building (now Chennai Central ), Chennai
Ambas Vilas, the Maharaja’s Palace in Mysore