iii: The Construction of the Residency

As a result of the revelations that emerged layer by layer during the conservation process, it is possible now to state that while the architectural vocabulary of the Residency is European and the materials of construction are local, the techniques used in its construction and interventions are a hybrid of the two cultures.

The built fabric of the erstwhile Residency is a combination of stone and brick masonry. The ground floor, constructed with local grey granite, is adequately ventilated with large fenestrations, which are well secured with iron gates and grilles as the place once housed a treasury. The security was further reinforced in 1857. The ground floor has a stone vaulted roof that spans in the east–west direction. The piano nobile, constructed in brick and lime, is reached by a majestic open flight of steps to the north and an equally grand stairway inside a central bow to the south. The columns of the hexastyle Corinthian portico to the north are a later addition and are tied back to the external façade of the durbar hall using metal tie beams. Similar tie beams brace the Composite columns of the central bow to the south. Uncommon in India, the tying back and securing of these columns to the main building appears to be a British import.

The largest areas on the piano nobile are the double-height portico and the durbar hall, which are held up using a combination of king and pratt trusses that span the combined width of both spaces. Corrugated mild steel sheets are used as roofing, with a channel of galvanised iron running on all four sides as a gutter. False ceilings conceal the roof structure: while the portico ceiling has embossed metal panels, the durbar hall ceiling is covered in papier-mâché, in elegantly coloured, floral-motifed panels with gilded borders.

The portico has a patterned black-and-white marble floor, and the durbar hall has a timber floor with a parquet border, suitable for ballroom dancing. To either side of the durbar hall the timber floors continue on to the east and west oval rooms, the roofs of which are held up using a Madras Terracing system.

The oval rooms, themselves a later intervention, lead to semicircular balconies on the sides, the floors laid with the encaustic tiles of the British company Minton.

The curved architraves of these balconies and that of the hexastyle portico are composite timber. Here large sections of teak were proportioned to the requisite size, strapped in metal and laminated over with timber planks, and the assembly was then concealed with lime plaster. This technique of spanning large spaces seems to have been developed by the second application, suggesting that these were painted over in situ. The panels would originally have been painted prior to their installation, and fixed to the auxiliary roof using nails in a random order with an emphasis on fixing at the borders. Measuring approximately 1.5 cm in length, these cast-iron nails are irregular in size and appear to be hand-forged, in a method typically associated with 19th-century manufacture. This contrasts with the nails found on the gilt beading, which are wellrounded cast-iron ones with a consistency in size suggesting they are machine-made. The beadings of varying sizes were originally gilded and used to hold the panels in place, highlighting the ceiling decoration. They also appear to have been used during the second phase to hide any imperfections remaining after filling any gaps between panels.

A thorough investigation of the panels enabled the conservators to assess the condition of the individual panels and strategise and prioritise their repair. Various levels of deterioration were observed, from dust and dirt accumulation, flaking of paint, warping, and delamination of the layers of papiermâché, through to partial or complete loss of the individual panels. It was decided to repair the panels in situ, removing only the heavily damaged panels to be consolidated in a laboratory.

The paint layer was stable, and any loss of paint from flaking or surface cracking appeared to be localised and therefore not connected to generalised deterioration, quality of paint or painting technique. Grime was observed where there was water ingress and this had led to some panels being warped. These were, where possible, secured to the auxiliary support using unbleached cotton belts, gently dismantling them in a phased manner to conserve them. After these panels were cleaned using a soft brush, they were exposed to moisture under controlled conditions to soften them, following which they were weighed down to flatten them. Weakened edges and delaminated layers were glued back using conservation-compliant resins, the same adhesive being applied to flaking paint too.

Each panel was individually and painstakingly cleaned, tears were mended and losses filled in. Additional backing was provided to support tears in the panels, and missing layers of paper were replaced