BANGALORE: Architecture students in the city had different opinions on the state government’s proposal to demolish the Balabrooie guest house.
Rohini Bhat, a young architect, said, “This guest house has been the pride of Bangalore for such a long time. Many eminent personalities have stayed in it. In architecture classes, we have studied its construction and also about the people who stayed in it. That this building will go down is sad.”
Bharath, another architect, too is upset. “Bangalore is becoming commercialised by the day. As a result, it is already on the verge of losing its Garden City tag. It is sad that our city is being stripped of its heritage value with the recent decisions to bring down such monuments.”
However, Shilpa Prasanna, a student of BMS College of Engineering, favoured the demolition. “Times are changing and we also need to change. This building is old and it’s time something new takes over,” she said.
Rohit, a student at the same college, said unlike other cities, there are few monuments in Bangalore that one can speak of highly, and Balabrooie is one of them. “It is disheartening that such unfeeling decisions are taken by the state,” he said.