Finding Deco in Delhi

A balcony of a building on Ansari Road with intricate detailing on the grills

The results were a mixed bag. Unlike Mumbai, where the swirling geometry of structures, free-flowing patterns on grills and railings, and eyebrows on windows, were very pronounced, Delhi, where Art Deco emerged much later, had fascinating inter-relationships with other styles of architecture—Indo-Saracenic and Neoclassicism, says Sayal. "There is this haveli in Chandni Chowk that my collaborators, Prashansa Sachdeva and Tulika Shrivastava, found. When I looked at the pictures, I realised that the exterior structure cannot really be called Art Deco. But when you look at the patterns on the staircase, fireplace, and certain motifs inside the house, it does reflect certain Deco patterns. Similarly, the outer façade of Regal Theatre in Delhi [it shut operations in 2017] is Georgian, but when you go inside, the use of eclectic colours, the palettes, the play with form, is very Deco," the 28-year-old architect adds.

Hotel Broadway on Asaf Ali Road is marked by a bold curve at the entrance with classic Deco typography

Just before the national lockdown, Sayal traversed through the quaint by-lanes of Daryaganj, a neighbourhood inside the walled city of Shahjahanabad, also known as Old Delhi. She found nearly eight commercial spaces, and around 11 residences, which incorporated the Deco style, which originated in France in the early 1900s. "It-s also important to find out when these buildings came up," she shares. Sayal gives the example of Golcha Cinema and Hotel Broadway, both in Daryaganj, but on different streets. The latter-s façade is marked by a bold curve at the entrance with classic Deco typography. "These structures have simple geometry, but, what-s interesting is that both of them came up in the 1950s, at the end of the Art Deco movement. I am in the process of creating a timeline, to understand which structures came up first. I think residential buildings started incorporating Art Deco elements much before the single-screen theatres and hotels."

Where Delhi falls short, she says, is in understanding, appreciating, and preserving Deco. Sayal hopes to achieve that through this project. "We are still in the process of researching these structures. Once I have interacted with the owners of all these buildings, and their occupants, I-d like to start a website to ensure that more people participate in the conversation. If we archive these buildings, we might be able to preserve something of what-s left, because who knows how many of these structures will remain in the next few years. Most of the single screen theatres have already shut down."

Geetanjali Sayal

That-s where, she says, there-s so much to learn from Mumbai, where after a decade-long effort, the UNESCO in 2018, inscribed Churchgate-s Art Deco ensemble as a World Heritage Site. "The amount of work that has happened in Mumbai when it comes Deco, has given us a template to understand and build our own research. Unless, we understand our past, we can-t create a future."

11+8
Number of commercial and residential structures with Art Deco elements Sayal has found

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