A winding road with landmark buildings

A winding road with landmark buildings
Michael Patrao
The whole stretch of Palace Road, now renamed D Devaraj Urs Road is dotted with landmark buildings, which narrate a part of the history of Bangalore.

Palace Road, which is now renamed as D Devaraj Urs Road, is perhaps the second longest road in the City after Dr Rajkumar Road in Rajajinagar.

It begins at a junction of Kempe Gowda Road and winds its way crossing Seshadri Road, Basaveshwara Circle, Sankey Road, Cunningham Road leading towards Bangalore Palace near Mount Carmel College.

Steeped in history

The entire stretch is dotted with landmark buildings, which narrate a part of the history of Bangalore.
At the beginning of the road there is an ornate red building which houses the regional centre of Indian Council of Historical Research.

Further up the road is the state-of-the-art Jnana Jyothi auditorium of Bangalore University located in the Central College campus. It has two amphi-theatrical halls and three other halls.

All along the road you find educational institutions with a reputation: University Law College, a double-storeyed brick building; VHD Institute of Home Science; Maharani’s Science College, Government Institute of Printing Technology and Centre for Management Studies of Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College.

Just next to Maharani’s college is Carlton House, an European classical style building. It was at one time the office of Sir Mirza Ismail, Dewan of the then Mysore State.

The Carlton house was built about a 100 years ago by one Carlton, who ran a successful auctioneers firm in the City and who lived in it for a few years before selling it to the Government of Mysore. Today it is the headquarters of the Corps of Detective (CoD).

Also opposite Maharani’s College, not visible from the main road is Beaulieu, a heritage building which houses the office of the Post Master General of Karnataka.

The renovated High Grounds police station, the BWSSB service station with a heritage value building, Drug Controller’s office, Cauvery Guest House, entrance to the Bangalore Golf Club, Sophia High School, run by the Sisters of Notre Dame and “Shanti Gruha” the office of Bharat Scouts and Guides are all located on this road.

The Bangalore Golf Club was founded on June 24, 1876 and is the second oldest in India. It also has the distinction of hosting, with Madras, the oldest inter-club tournament in the country, which started in 1878 and is played alternately in Bangalore and Madras. The bar at the Bangalore Golf Club has some interesting memorabilia tracing the history of the club.

For the VIPs

The Balabrooie guest house, off Sankey Road, was once the residence of Sir M Visvesvaraya and later of the chief ministers of Karnataka. Styled on European classical lines it is today a guest house for visiting VIPs.

When the Ministry of Culture selected Bangalore to house the southern wing of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), the venue chosen in 2000 to house the gallery was Manickvelu Mansion on Palace Road.

It is a verdant three and a half acre campus with a colonial-style mansion. It originally belonged to Yuvaraja of Mysore who sold it to one Manickvelu Mudaliar, a successful businessman of the thirties and the forties.

Once the branch becomes operational, it will develop itself into a full-fledged museum of modern art and will have a perpetual standing in the field of Modern Art and Art practices.

All along the road there are temples of recent origin such as Sri Oni Muneshwara Swamy temple, Sri Oni Anjaneya Swamy temple and Bhagwan Sri Maruthi temple (next to Chief Secretary’s residence). Old order may change, but the tradition continues.