| DHAKA CITY UNDER THE BRITISH (1858-1947)
Dhaka City, by the end of the 19th century, was hemmed in between the Burhiganga River and the railway line. The extension of the city to the east went up to the eastern fringes of Gandaria and to the west up to Nawabganj.
But a phase of revival came when Charles Dawes, the Collector, began to take interest in the development of Dhaka City. He laid out the RaceCourse in Ramna in 1825. Subsequently in 1829, some roads within the city were widened and new buildings were erected for administrative and educational purposes near the present Victoria Park.
Finally with the transfer of power from the East India Company to the Crown in 1858, Dhaka started to grow more rapidly.
Dhaka was connected for the first time with Narayanganj by railways in 1885 and later in 1886 the railways extended up to Mymensingh. Dhaka City was for the first time electrified in 1878 and facilities of water supply started to be offered to the residences since 1874. The development of the city continued and later during the Governor Generalship of Lord Curzon, Bengal was partitioned and a new province of East Bengal and Assam came into being in July 1905. Dhaka was declared the provincial capital. With the new responsibilities, the town of less than 100,000 inhabitants started to expand rapidly. The increase of population between 1901 and 1911 was about 21 percent. But Dhaka’s phase as Capital of East Bangal and Assam was only short lived. In 1911, the Partition of Bengal was annulled and Dhaka once again lost its administrative robes. As a compensation, Dhaka University was established and the administrative buildings were utilized for housing it. But due to the First World War the functioning of the University was delayed until 1921. From that time till 1947, Dhaka City functioned as a district headquarters, trade centre and university town. The main development took place in Raman area. During the long period of over 180 years under the East India Company and the British Crown, the functional pattern of Dhaka City underwent marked changes.
Functional Pattern Administrative. The Fort, which during the Mughal times formed the administrative nucleus, was turned into a jail by the British. The new administrative district grew up near the Victoria Park, which was established, in the first half of the 19th century. The educational institutions also were located there. For these purposes the low-lying areas between the former headquarters of the East India Company and Dulai Khal were reclaimed. After 1905, the centre of principal administration of the capital city was located in Ramna. The present Medical College Hospital housed the provincial Secretariat. But the headquarters of the district administration continued to be located near Victoria Park. Thus two centres of administration were to be identified. But after the annulment of the Partition of Bengal, Ramna area lost he administrative functions.
Educational. The principal centre of education until 1905 was located near the Victoria Park. But after that an important and more expansive centre of educational institutions was established in Ramna. The Ahsanullah Engineering School was also built in Ramna. The Dhaka University was created and it took over the previous secretariat buildings and the Curzon Hall. The Government House was turned into Dhaka Intermediate College and many residential halls for students were constructed in this area. By the early 1920s the important part of Ramna was thus occupied by educational institutions.
Business. The East India Company had inherited a well-developed central business district in the Chauk, which gradually changed its identity from a retail trade centre to a wholesale centre. By 1930, it had completely become a wholesale area. The retail trade area on the other hand moved eastward along Islampur and then northward along Nawabpur Road. They have retained their character until today. Bangla Bazar also re-developed as a retail-trading centre in the later part of the British rule. During the Mughals it rivaled with Chauk as a business centre, but during the early British period it lost the commercial importance and became a seat for such institutions as the North Brook Hall and the Baptist Mission.
Industries. The industrial district, as in the Mughal period, was associated with the low class residential areas. Shell cutting was carried on the Sankhari Bazar, brass and metal work in Thateri Bazar, gold and silver work and weaving in Tanti Bazar. During the later part of the British rule in the 20th century a small number of large-scale industries were established. One of them was a glass factory (Hardeo) established in 1929 at Hatkhola railway crossing. A pharmaceutical industry, Sadhana Ausodhalaya was also established in this period in Gandaria.
Low Class Residences. The low class residences of the Mughal times continued to be low class and expanded to swallow some parts of the surrounding areas. Some high-class areas like Nawabganj also deteriorated to low class. The cause of the demotion of Nawabganj to low class was the shifting of the river southward.
Middle Class Residences. The emergence of a middle class social stratum and with that of middle class residential area was a 19th century phenomenon. Such areas with middle class characteristics were located mainly at Bakshi Bazar. Dewan Bazar, Nawab Katra, Aga Sadeq Road, Begum Bazar, Armanitola, Bangla Bazar and Lakshmi Bazar. Later on Gopibagh area was also added to the list of middle class areas. These areas were primarily inhabited by local people of respectable means. The middle class houses, which varied from plain small buildings standing, shoulder to shoulder along a long street to considerably large houses with gardens and open spaces.
High Class Residential Areas
Location Pattern. Ever since the Mughal times, the riverbank was a prize location for high-class residences. The charm of the riverfront continued up to the beginning of the present century and the most important high-class residential areas at the bank of the Burhiganga River for half a mile from North Brook Hall to the Ahsan Manzil. High European civil officers used to live there. Apart from the picturesque waterfront location, this residential area also enjoyed proximity to the main administrative centre at Victoria Park. The Palace of Dhaka Nawabs (Ahsan Manzil) was also located there. The establishment of the Capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in Dhaka in 1906 brought the development of the Civil Lines in Ramna Area beyond the city limits. The Civil Lines were not only the administrative centre but also the official residences of the administrative heads. The Europeans gradually moved from the riverside to the new residential area in Ramna. This movement was initiated not only by the development of the Civil Lines but also by the growing demand of space for commercial purposes. By 1930, the riverfront lost its residential character and was changed into a commercial area.
Three upper class residential areas at Gandaria, Wari and purana Paltan were developed by the local population. Gandaria was located at the southeastern outskirt of the city and Wari in a sparsely populated area east to Nawabpur Road, They housed the Local Government employees (most of whom had also other landed property), professionals, businessmen and landlords. Until 1925, Purana Paltan was a barren woodland with a few houses built of corrugated iron sheets. In a few years after 1925, Purana Paltan became a beautiful residential area housing the leaders of the society and high government officials (Bose 1950).
Road Pattern. The layout of the Ramna area consists of two roughly concentric roads at the centre of which is the RaceCourse. To the south is a somewhat irregular road pattern which serves the main buildings while to the north-east are a number of well planned parallel residential streets. The tree planting and natural vegetation are excellent even by today’s standard. The plan expresses the disregard for geometrical layout of roads, which is one of the main characteristics of contemporary town planning. The Ramna plan embodies transition from the geometrical or classical to the informal or romantic. The roads, however, became very wide (unknown in the old Dhaka) to cope with the increasing vehicular traffic.
The gird pattern of road was introduced in Dhaka City for the first time in Wari and Gandaria. Roads in these areas were wider than those in the Mughal Dhaka but not as wide as those of the Ramna Civil Lines.
House Types. The European houses near the waterfront were all done in western pattern. They had wide-open compound spaces and gardens. The houses were massive in structure with huge pillars and sometimes with round towers and verandas like the Dutch kuthis at Wise Ghat. In one of the many institutions, built by the Britishers before 1905, a juxtaposition of the Mughal and European architectural styles was made. It was the Northbrook Hall, built to serve the purpose of a Town Hall.
The Ahsan Manzil was built first in 1872 and then renovated in 1888. Its architectural style is purely European. It has pillars with Corinthian capitals and semicircular arches in windows and doors. The dome also is of European character and the Mughal kiosks are all gone. Instead of the high Mughal Palace walls it has iron fencing, allowing thus a better view of the palace from the river. The Nawabs, however, had a garden house at Dilkhusha near the present Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) or DIT building and now acquired for the development of commercial areas. The short period between 1905 and 1911 witnessed a speedily development of high-class residential areas in Ramna. These houses were built there in western architectural style with large compounds and gardens surrounded by hedge-fences. They maintained the red colour like the Mughal buildings. The magnificent buildings now housing the High Court and built in the Renaissance style was the Governor’s residence. Opposite to it is the Curzon Hall of equal grandeur (1905) but with Mughal architectural elements. The residential houses in Ramna had the best available contemporary living facilities. In construction design they had the peculiar colonial look. But with these houses red brick began to appear against the old Grey and also against the green foliage all around. They were the “purple palaces of the public works contrasting strangely with the graceful domes and minarets of mosques and palaces of bygone age” (Birt 1906).
The houses in Gandaria and Wari were large buildings with high and thick compound walls and open spaces. Architecture showed combination of Mughal and European styles. Verandas and more window spaces were conspicuous features along with other characteristics. The houses had water and electric connection. Houses in the Purana Paltan resembled those in Wari and Gandaria but marks of sophistication became evident in them. Gardens and lower compound walls with similar architectural designs were associated with decoration by exotic plants.
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