The urban landscape of Delhi has always been an amalgamation of communities and cultures. Currently, the cityscape ranges from the narrow alleys of Old Delhi to the brutalist architecture of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, as well as the Victorian-esque houses in Lutyens Delhi. However, a number of features that were once visible in ancient architectural designs are slowly disappearing.
Now, Delhi mostly has builder floor projects that one might also call cookie-cutter style houses. “Those ’70s and ’80s houses that define the Capital’s social landscape are, becoming irrelevant. I wanted to construct a little time-frame—catch them one last time before they are gone forever,” shares Green Park-resident Anica Mann (34) who started Delhi Houses (@delhihouses) on Instagram in February this year. Through this micro-blog, Mann—who works on several archaeological projects with Global Xplorer (an online platform that protects and preserve the world’s cultural heritage through innovative technologies) helping the Archeological Survey of India—archives the urban architectural history of Delhi.
Mann does not look at the history of building through her blog, unlike many other architectural content creators. She takes a more personal route by looking at how it must feel to live in these houses. “I am not an expert on urban architecture. But as someone who has grown up in this city, I feel like these houses are a part of my childhood—a memory, which I want to go back to,” she says.
A last good-bye
In Mann’s micro-blog, you will find instances of Delhi houses, trees, and old cars, all of which provide a historical narrative of how Delhi has developed as a city. While speaking of Chandni Chowk, which can be considered as one of the first-planned commercial centres in the Capital, she mentions, “The roads that lead into Chandni Chowk are very narrow and dark.
In those days, [Mughal period] people did not have cars so the lanes were deliberately made dark so it is cooler to walk through them.” She also mentions that when places such as Greater Kailash and Sunder Nagar were being planned, the buildings were designed according to the decade that they were built in. “Generally, from the ’50s to the ’70s, the houses had small windows, thick walls, and mosaic floors.” She adds, “This decade-wise split of Delhi’s architecture is slowly being replaced. Some of the changes are necessary to move forward with the times. I just want to take a moment and appreciate what had been.”
Bridging the community
Through Delhi Houses, Mann wants to create a community of aesthetes who appreciate Delhi’s architecture. She, therefore, invites city dwellers to submit photographs of houses that they think stand out: “If you see a house, send me a picture of it, and what you thought about the house. How did it feel to look at it and imagine living there?”
Mann hopes that with time, she will be able to go beyond just the architecture and document each house from the perspective of it being a quintessential Delhi home.