Nusserwanjee Building
Sights/Landmarks
The Nusserwanjee Building Project is unique in the architectural history of the subcontinent. It is a 100 year old Kharadar landmark, named after Karachi philanthropist, Jamshed Nusserwanjee. The building was originally constructed in 1903 by Jamshed’s father, Nusserwanjee Rustomji Mehta, as warehouse and office of Nusserwanjee and Co., a very prosperous trading and manufacturing enterprise. An additional wing was constructed in 1919, using R.C.C. for columns, beams and roof, and plastered rubble stone and coursed stone masonry. Today, it has been relocated, stone by stone, to become a part of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) campus.
History
Jamshed Nusserwanji Rustomji Mehta was born in 1886, in a well-off Parsi family in Karachi. He was the first elected Mayor of Karachi and remembered as the "Maker of Modern Karachi". He was also a notable figure in the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association. The growth and development of Karachi can be attributed to him never bypassing rules and regulations.
Jamshed Nusserwanjee was educated in commerce and joined his father’s firm as a clerk. Over the years he rose in position to become his father’s partner, eventually taking over the business. With a keen acumen for business, he succeeded in business and channeled his profits to philanthropic causes. He worked to promote Karachi's import and export which caught the attention of the world attracting business, trade, education and culture.
Jamshed Nusserwanji’s was also very involved public affairs; he initially joined Karachi Municipality as Councillor for 6 years and was later elected the first Mayor of Karachi from 1933-1944. He further represented the Parsi community in the municipality for 12 years, as elected president. During his presidency and mayor-ship, he turned Karachi from a fishing village to a well planned and developed city. It was also known as cleanest city in the East with the streets being washed twice a day. Karachi's broad streets, lights, sanitation and water system, shady trees, parks, libraries, hospitals, schools, maternity homes, veterinary homes, transport system water troughs for animals, welfare centres for the sick, the delinquent, the Deaf, the abandoned and even facilities for animals spoke of the city’s progress.
The extent of Jamshed's involvement with public affairs can be judged from the fact that he was active in as many as 77 institutions, mostly charitable and welfare-oriented. Jamshed gradually moved away from the material world to a spiritual existence and to a strictly spartan life. He was the Founder-President of the Karachi Theosophical Society and was adopted by Mrs. Annie Besant, the founder of the Theosophical Movement, as her spiritual son. He remained deeply committed to her and her ideals till the end. He was also offered knighthood from the British Government which he declined. Jamshed never married and died in 1952 after a short illness.
Relocation
The Nusserwanji Building was set for demolition in 1991 when Shahid Abdulla, one of the founders of the Indus Valley School, suggested to the save the building by relocating to the IVS campus. This was a monumental undertaking to transport 25,000 sq. ft. and 26,000 stones of the building to a new site by the sea. The four-storey East Wing was completed in 2001 and the three storey West Wing became operational at the end of 2004. The two wings give the School a further 25,000 sq. ft. of space, while additions to the building and interior continue to be made.
There were numerous suggestions about the various possibilities of dismantling, transportation, conservation etc. Detailed documentation of the building was carried out through measured drawings and photographs. Contractor Haji Mohammed Shah Akram Baloch was selected not only for his lowest bid but for a sound dismantling methodology. The sale of the property took four years to materialize, while in the meantime the new campus of the Indus Valley School was designed and constructed with an appropriate space earmarked for the location of Nusserwanjee Building.
Detailed identification of all the material was done and each stone, piece of timber etc., properly marked prior to the dismantling which commenced in April 1995, stone by stone, piece by piece, and completed within three months. Only 50 stones were broken or damaged out of the 26,000 that were retrieved. The procedure involved the careful removal of each piece of timber and stone which was then tagged permanently for identification, carried to the ground floor, stacked temporarily, loaded on the trucks for transportation to the Clifton site, unloaded and re-arranged according to a given layout.
Although the exterior of the building and most interior spaces look almost exactly the same as the original, the construction methodology had to be altered to cater to the current building codes. Vertical and horizontal steel sections, (which were encased in masonry during construction), had to be introduced to brace the structure
For more details: Nusserwanjee Building (Relocation) Project
History
Jamshed Nusserwanji Rustomji Mehta was born in 1886, in a well-off Parsi family in Karachi. He was the first elected Mayor of Karachi and remembered as the "Maker of Modern Karachi". He was also a notable figure in the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association. The growth and development of Karachi can be attributed to him never bypassing rules and regulations.
Jamshed Nusserwanjee was educated in commerce and joined his father’s firm as a clerk. Over the years he rose in position to become his father’s partner, eventually taking over the business. With a keen acumen for business, he succeeded in business and channeled his profits to philanthropic causes. He worked to promote Karachi's import and export which caught the attention of the world attracting business, trade, education and culture.
Jamshed Nusserwanji’s was also very involved public affairs; he initially joined Karachi Municipality as Councillor for 6 years and was later elected the first Mayor of Karachi from 1933-1944. He further represented the Parsi community in the municipality for 12 years, as elected president. During his presidency and mayor-ship, he turned Karachi from a fishing village to a well planned and developed city. It was also known as cleanest city in the East with the streets being washed twice a day. Karachi's broad streets, lights, sanitation and water system, shady trees, parks, libraries, hospitals, schools, maternity homes, veterinary homes, transport system water troughs for animals, welfare centres for the sick, the delinquent, the Deaf, the abandoned and even facilities for animals spoke of the city’s progress.
The extent of Jamshed's involvement with public affairs can be judged from the fact that he was active in as many as 77 institutions, mostly charitable and welfare-oriented. Jamshed gradually moved away from the material world to a spiritual existence and to a strictly spartan life. He was the Founder-President of the Karachi Theosophical Society and was adopted by Mrs. Annie Besant, the founder of the Theosophical Movement, as her spiritual son. He remained deeply committed to her and her ideals till the end. He was also offered knighthood from the British Government which he declined. Jamshed never married and died in 1952 after a short illness.
Relocation
The Nusserwanji Building was set for demolition in 1991 when Shahid Abdulla, one of the founders of the Indus Valley School, suggested to the save the building by relocating to the IVS campus. This was a monumental undertaking to transport 25,000 sq. ft. and 26,000 stones of the building to a new site by the sea. The four-storey East Wing was completed in 2001 and the three storey West Wing became operational at the end of 2004. The two wings give the School a further 25,000 sq. ft. of space, while additions to the building and interior continue to be made.
There were numerous suggestions about the various possibilities of dismantling, transportation, conservation etc. Detailed documentation of the building was carried out through measured drawings and photographs. Contractor Haji Mohammed Shah Akram Baloch was selected not only for his lowest bid but for a sound dismantling methodology. The sale of the property took four years to materialize, while in the meantime the new campus of the Indus Valley School was designed and constructed with an appropriate space earmarked for the location of Nusserwanjee Building.
Detailed identification of all the material was done and each stone, piece of timber etc., properly marked prior to the dismantling which commenced in April 1995, stone by stone, piece by piece, and completed within three months. Only 50 stones were broken or damaged out of the 26,000 that were retrieved. The procedure involved the careful removal of each piece of timber and stone which was then tagged permanently for identification, carried to the ground floor, stacked temporarily, loaded on the trucks for transportation to the Clifton site, unloaded and re-arranged according to a given layout.
Although the exterior of the building and most interior spaces look almost exactly the same as the original, the construction methodology had to be altered to cater to the current building codes. Vertical and horizontal steel sections, (which were encased in masonry during construction), had to be introduced to brace the structure
For more details: Nusserwanjee Building (Relocation) Project
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