GPO Regains Lost Grandeur As Second Phase Of Restoration Nears Completion; See Pics

With the second of its three-phase restoration nearing completion, Mumbai’s 112-year-old General Post Office’s grand spaces that had faded away after decades of neglect and slapdash repairs are visible again.

The restoration of the 1,20,000 square-feet heritage listed building, located near the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, jointly by the government and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), has been a mammoth task, not just because the conservation work had to be done without stopping operations like banking, parcel delivery, and postal services.

“Because it is an operational building and due to the sheer size of the structure the work had to be done in phases,” said Amitabh Singh, Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra and Goa.

The building was built when new construction techniques like Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) had been introduced. The building’s dome, 65 metres in circumference and with a radius of 20 metres, was made with RCC. Over the decades, the building, constructed in stone, structural steel, and RCC, had undergone repairs and alterations, much of it without any attention to the conservation of the original design and building materials.

“Over the last 110 years a lot of internal work has been done and a lot of that had to be undone. INTACH had been instrumental in helping us do it,” said Singh.

For instance, the Chief Postmaster General’s room had a false ceiling that was not a feature of the original design. When the additions were removed, it revealed a high ceiling with beautiful wooden rafters. Leakages in the dome had been tackled with cement mixes that added weight to the structure and affected its stability. In many places, the walls, constructed in hard Kurla basalt, decorated with arches and mouldings in softer sandstone, had been painted over.

“Conservation process was not known and nobody knew what was to be done for conservation of stone walls,” said Shailesh Gore, structural engineer from INTACH.

During the restoration, the paint was scraped off and polished to reveal the natural texture of the stone and wood. Damaged sections have been restored with original or similar building materials like Malad stone. The copper-covered wooden finial crowning the dome, which functions as a lightning arrester, has been restored and retained. Lime mortar, used in the original structure to bind the stones, is prepared at the site.

Katyayani Agarwal, convenor of the Mumbai chapter of INTACH, said that the project has become iconic. “Several government offices based in similar structures are approaching us to restore these buildings,” said Agarwal.

Singh said that the restoration plans were born when the Ministry of Communications decided to look at the conservation of its grand GPOs. They approached INTACH, a non-government group that has pioneered restoration and preservation work on natural and built heritage. “Our headquarters had begun a serious look at our heritage buildings. Funds were earmarked and we received help from the Ministry of Culture,” Singh added.

The restoration plan was approved in 2015 and a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2018. However, the Covid pandemic interrupted the plans and restoration work finally began in 2021. The last phase, which is expected to be completed in 2026, will cover the central rotunda.

Highlights

Constructed during 1904-1913 in the Indo-Saracenic style blending Gothic, Hindu, and Mughal-era architecture.

Designed by architect John Begg who also created the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

The dome is the second largest in India after the stone dome of the 17th-century Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur (Vijayapura), Karnataka.

Rs 22 crores spent so far and cost expected to increase by 30% by the end of the third phase.

Future plans include creating more accessible areas for the public, including a postal museum with stamp gallery.