The heritage vault

In Delhi, two senior officials at the Chandni Chowk branch, struck by the architectural opuluence of their building — an 1806 construction, decided to do some constructive work. But it was tough. There was no database and worse the 80-feet high building constructed in the colonial style with circular columns in its front facade had been altered to a damaging extent.

The officers—K.B. Gopalakrishnan, general manager (developmental and personal banking) and S. Vishvanathan, deputy general manager, got down to business. They even negotiated with the encroachers, moving them out of the building. Endless interactions with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Delhi and senior conservationists in Delhi over a period of three years procured priceless data. It took them the same time to convince the head office in Mumbai to release funds for conservation of the building.

In January 2004, the head office released Rs 12 lakhs for the conservation of the facade alone. Another Rs 5 crores was set aside to facilitate conservation of the interiors to be taken up later.

Says Gopalakrishnan, ‘‘this is an effort to restore the historic culture of city that comes with the building. The conservation work will be completed in two process. The first one will restore the facade and the second one will restore the interiors.’’

The Delhi office will soon also have a Heritage Cell. The office also decided to move out at least 200 of its employees to other branches in the city to ensure that the building did not have unnecessary pressures.

And once the restoration of the building is over, the bank also plans to have an exhibition centre in the reception area of the office.

AT the SBI’s Mumbai branch in Hornimon Circle, even though the Heritage Cell has ceased to exist, conservation work is on. Spread over nearly 1.60 lakh sq ft area, an attempt is being made to revive the majesty of the 75 ft high Grade 2 building. At a cost of Rs 60 lakh, the stone walls made of Porbandar and Malad stones are painted with light cream colour. Broken arch shaped windows are replaced while the chhajas are repaired and painted with light cream. Another Rs 2 crore is earmarked for furniture, painting the walls and other expense.

Home to over 1,200 bank employees, 40 per cent conservation work is completed since it began last year. ‘‘We hope to complete it by next month,’’ said V.V. Patel, manager civic engineering of SBI.

A mixture of classical and oriental architectural style, the building which was ready for occupation in 1924, displays all the majesty of Victorian ecleticism in the imperial business town as visualised by Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of the Bombay Presidency.

Officials at the branch however are in splits when they recount an old story: With the deadline of March end looming close, they were busy finalising their books of accounts. A few employees wearing a somewhat frightened look told them that they had seen ghosts. There was one, a old Parsi gentlemen who was not allowing them to touch some ledger books. ‘‘It’s the best excuse I ever heard,’’ says a officer.

In Kolkata meanwhile, the Imperial Bank building — the SBI office on the banks of the river Hooghly, was pulled down in the 1980s, when it became structurally weak, but the SBI will soon showcase the memorabilia and rare autographs at Samriddhi Bhavan, the new regional office here that was set up at the same site.

Says Abhik Ray, officer-in-charge of SBI’s history cell, ‘‘The neo-classical building on Strand road had objects of huge research material. We will make these items available for research soon.’’ The original building was demolished but some columns and arches were recreated in the new building.

If there is one bank office that has retained its grandeur, it has to be the one in Shimla. Built in mid-19th century, the building was demolished and built again in 1903. ‘‘Hardly any alterations have been made in the building,’’ says Surender Nath, deputy general manager. Meanwhile in small towns like Mussoorie, it is the initiative of the bank employees and customers that has conserved the building, one of the oldest on the Mall.

Clearly, heritage is one area the bank is keen to invest in.

Inputs from Rajshri Mehta in Mumbai, Jaidev Majumdar in Kolkata,
Suresh Khatta in Shimla and S.M.A. Kazmi in Dehra Dun