The house was built in 1863AD using popular Taq (Arch) structure engineering. The original house had four wings with a courtyard in the middle. The Eastern wing was used as a kitchen “Sulhar” and dining. The Northern wing was used as family and living “Mahal Khana” space and the Western wing was used for Storage and miscellaneous purposes. This house harks back to a long tradition of dwellings wit
h a central space open to the skies circumscribed by rooms on all sides, a model as much functional in keeping the house cool in the hot climate and warm in winters. Courtyard house architecture in Kashmir was not just an architectural style. It was a way of life. If we look at this house, it is indigenous and matched the climatic requirements. The spatial and formal elements fell into a wonderful introverted blueprint. It reflected the society of its times. This house was a remarkable form of residential architecture. The courtyard was this style’s quintessence and its relevance to the home was apparent as well as subtle. The courtyard in this house ordered other spaces by context in an abode where space was not rigidly fixed but could be adaptable depending on the time of day, season and exigency. It obliquely controlled the environment inside and served the needs of its inhabitants. Its mood changed with varying degrees of light and shade, and with them the ambience of the abode. Centrally located, it imprinted the domain of the dwelling like a visual anchor. It is the spatial, social, and environment control center of the home. Around this courtyard space the rest of the structure seamlessly coalesced. It was the spatial, social, and environment control center of the home. However, bother Easter and Western wing were destroyed and razed to ground by the heirs ofthe property in order to construct modern brick and mortar houses with modern facilities. The Northern wing remains partially because of modifications made to it to accommodate modern lifestyle. The front wing, which is the only surviving wing and well preserved is a three storied building measuring 90ft x 25ft and is 50ft high. It is a twelve Taq structure with two balconies “Dab” on each corner. “Taq construction is a bearing wall masonry construction with horizontal timber lacing embedded into the masonry to keep it from spreading and cracking. It is usually configured with a modular layout of masonry piers and window bays tied together with ladder-like constructions of horizontal timbers embedded in the masonry walls at each floor level and window lintel level. The masonry piers are thick enough to carry the vertical loads, and the bays may either contain a window, or a thinner masonry wall as required by the floor plan and the building’s orientation. The ladder-like sets of timber beams (ker) laid into the exterior and interior faces of the walls are connected together through the wall either by the floor beams (veeram) and joists or short connector pieces. These horizontal “ladder bands” are located at the base of the structure above the foundation (das or dassa), and at each floor level and at the window lintel level.” (Randolph Langenbach, Don’t Tear it Down)
A cubical corridor, crafted with wood and stones, greets a visitor to the rare surviving heritage of the Kashmir Valley located in Zadibal area of downtown Srinagar. Its antique wooden gates lead to the 150-year-old marvel, and exit towards 21st century concrete structures atypical of Kashmir. Then, as the heavy gate twice the average human size creaks open into lush green environs, the three-storey Jalali House becomes visible. The 19th century edifice stands as an icon of history to the right between a Chinar and dozens of pine trees. This house is divided into two sections, western and eastern. Western portion of the house consists of big halls “Deewan Khana’s” and the Eastern portion consist of private rooms. Deewan Khana’s were used to throw parties and entertain guests while private rooms on the eastern side were used to host guests. This house boasts the best latticework “Pinjara Kari” of Kashmir. All windows have been constructed with Pinjara Kari work. All latticework is hand made. No glue or nails are used to connect the intricate parts of Pinajara’s that make up the windows. Pinjara windows that are on the Eastern side of the house which consist of private rooms are insulated by a solid wooden windows called “Du’Daer” to protect the guests inhabiting these rooms from harsh cold weather of Kashmir during winters. A small staircase “Branda” of stones leads to the main entrance of the house made up of wood, 2x4 cm ‘Maharaji’ bricks and stone. And the very first step inside gives the idea about its fame. The house has hosted Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and several British Generals and Viceroys before Partition, and their visits are preserved in photographs displayed on the right wall of the rectangular corridor on the ground floor. Nearly a dozen more pictorial accounts of the house’s political and religious history are preserved in the glass frame. A Deewan Khana (Common) on the ground floor is at the left corner of the corridor. The large hall, meant for common social gatherings, is divided into lateral galleries known as Shahnisheen and general sitting space. On every occasion in good olden days, men of the family would be joined in Shahnisheen by important social and political figures. Others would sit in the general sitting space between galleries and a wall to the left having large-sized windows covering it all. The far end of the Deewan Khana heads to Hamam through a dark corridor, illuminated in the bygone years with oil lamps placed on small, semi-circular shelves at edges of the walls. The shelves are still there, but light now comes from the electric bulbs in glass chandeliers. Carefully chosen chandeliers of various sizes are the only new addition to the ancient structure to match its stature. The first “Hamam” Bath has a water-storage well called Khazan and a stone-hose, predecessor of the modern day bath tubs. The adjacent smaller Hamam called “Jama Khana” Change Room was meant to act as a Sauna and avoid exposure to extreme cold and hot temperature variations when stepping out of Hamaam. The earthen pots, jugs are still intact on the shelves carved into the walls of mud and stone. Firewood was used to heat up water in the Khazan, and the process would also heat up floor of the Hamam. The outflow channels of the hose would then be plugged to store the warm water in it for anyone to take a hot bath. Water was drawn from the well and Khazan was manually filled everyday in the mornings by the staff dedicated to maintain the Hamaam. Deewan Khana on second floor is decorated with colorful hand made flowers and design using vegetable dyes called Naqashi, which are still intact after hundred and fifty years. Size of the Tathaar, spherical samovar-like silver vessel, in the Shahnisheen gives an idea about the number of people who might be served beverages in the Deewan Khana at one time. This Deewan Khana is bigger and wider. There are two bed-rooms in the house on this floor. One is on the extreme east and other on extreme west wing of the house. Crimson light coming through coloured glasses in the window illuminates the bed and the couch perhaps as old as the house itself. Western side of the third floor was meant to throw parties and the eastern side was meant for serving the guests in the main hall. Serving room opens to a stairway down to the lawn, and the right corner has a Dub, hexagonal balcony with meshed wooden fencing. A similar Dub is at the other extreme of the house in Deewan Khana’s Shahnisheen, where Jinnah held meetings during his first visit to the Valley in 1936. Sheikh M. Abdullah also held political meetings here in the later years. This floor is walled on side by Pinjara (lattice) work and khatamband cieling, dubs (small alcoves or bay windows which project outwards towards the lake, affording the house a leisurely view, and stained glass windows on the far end of the room. An old-fashioned Kangri (heating pot), a Yaender (spinning wheel) have been preserved in the Pehchaan Kothri (identification room) in between bed-room and the Deewan Khana. Irfan Khan and Priyanka Chopra were shot in this room for movie ‘Saath Khoon Mauf’ some years ago. Attached to each bed-room is a walk-in closet. Even Muzaffar Ali a renowned film director was planning a very ambitious project at this house, which was later canned due to political instability in Kashmir. The house features on the cover page of the book ‘Don’t Tear It Down’ by Randolph Langenbach compiled, after 2005 quake, by UNESCO on earthquake resistant vernacular architecture of Kashmir and The Taq construction of this house finds special mention in this book. Jalali Haveli, as the house is popularly called, is opened routinely for tourists. Occasionally, it is opened for shooting of films and documentaries.
