BENGALURU: Next time you visit the office of the Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) of Karnataka in Bengaluru, you will be in for a surprise. The magnificent ‘Beaulieu’ heritage building, built in the 1860s, had its original entrance closed for decades, which has now been reopened after being given a facelift.
Heritage enthusiast and founder of ‘Heritage Beku’ Priya Chetty-Rajagopal was instrumental in giving an aesthetic appeal to the entrance by pursuing the matter with top postal officials since February 2021.
As a result, the entrance, which lies off Seshadri Road, was opened last week by the postal department without much publicity. The new entrance runs parallel to Palace Road and is located next to the Centre for Continuing Technical Education, Government Polytechnic for Women.
The historic building with a French name, that translates to ‘Beautiful Place’, was converted into the CPMG office in 1966.CPMG, Karnataka Circle, Rajendra S Prasad told TNIE that the new entrance can play a positive role in attracting more visitors and staff to the office. “The Vidhana Soudha Metro station is just 800 metres away from this entrance. We cleaned the place entirely and put up a painting on the wall. Even those walking past this road can get a glimpse of this heritage structure through the opening created here.”
Rajagopal told The New Indian Express, “I always felt something was amiss whenever I looked at the building.
It suddenly dawned on me early last year, in pouring rain actually, that the right view of the building was obtained only from its back portion. After some research I learnt that this was the original entrance that had been closed decades ago.”
Rajagopal is delighted that the postal department has acted upon her recommendation. “This change can create a huge difference in the perception of people about the heritage building,” she said.
However, Rajagopal feels the entrance needs to be made bigger by taking some space from the government institutions bordering it or sharing their entries so that cars too can drive through, if required. Members of the public visit the CPMG office to take part in Dak Adalats, sort out issues with postal life insurance policies, pensions or for business queries.