Mayo Hall (Bangalore)

Mayo Hall is a stone and mortar structure built at the heart of the city of Bangalore, India. The towering hall is situated next to the Public Utility Building on the Mahatma Gandhi Road. The Mayo Hall, which lies on a hill, offers panoramic view of the Parade grounds and Ulsoor Lake on one side and the Bangalore Race Course and Brigade Grounds in the south.

This two story building is decorated with Italian chandeliers, ornate furniture, exquisite furnishings, architrave, pediment windows, key stoned arches, balustrade ledges, beautiful consoles, Greek cornices, Tuscan columns and wooden floors. Mayo Hall is now home to numerous departments of BMP (Bangalore Mahanagara Palike).

Kempegowda Museum is a government museum and it is located on the first floor of Mayo Hall. It was established in the year 2011 is dedicated to Yelahanka chieftain Kempegowda (1510-1569) who is the founder of Bangalore city.The museum has Kempegowda's statue as well as posters and pictures of forts, temples, reservoirs and inscriptions from his time.

Mayo Hall Still a picture of Elegance by Janardhan Roye Bangaloreans searching for a house to rent in the 1950s, was as simple as going to the Rent Controller's office located in the Mayo Hall near Dozey's Garage on South Parade. The office periodically and dutifully listed on a notice board, residential accommodation available. Listed were details of the premises, location and expected rent. "Typically you read the notice board, noted down the most suitable house for your needs and budget, and applied for it in a form. And without much ado or long wait, you'd be allotted the house of your choice. “A huge bungalow went for rents as low as Rs 140 per month," remembers Dr T R G Anand, a Cantonment old-timer and well-known homoeopath physician.

To be sure the colonnaded Mayo Hall had other offices in its magnificent granite and mortar structure. Black coated lawyers, typists, stamp vendors and such personae were testimony to that. Civil cases from minor traffic offences such as 'double-riding' on bicycles to the more serious ones were tried here. It was also the place for 'registered marriages'.

When originally built, the ground floor had the Municipal Office for the Cantonment, several public offices and law courts. The upper floor was designed for important 'Public meetings and Exhibitions'.

Going back to its very beginning, Mayo Hall became a part of a larger design to develop the cantonment into an integrated Bangalore Civil & Military station. Accordingly, around the mid-1800s, began a series of developmental activity.

The army that defeated Tipu Sultan in the 4th Mysore War was shifted from the swampy environs of Srirangapatana to the more salubrious Bangalore. It was 1809 and the new garrison town began to grow. The crown's administrative staff and the army's families began arriving in droves, taking the arduous sailing route around the Cape of Good Hope. Sensing the business opportunities tradesmen also took the boat. Soon items never before seen in Bangalore started arriving, for, it was a century of dramatic happenings. The world saw many firsts: postage stamps, automobiles, electric light bulbs, motion pictures, phonographs, photography, repetition rifles, railroad locomotives, steamships, telegraphs and telephones.

With this revolution began the 'westernisation' of Bangalore. "Roads, parks, promenades, churches, schools, hospitals, shopping centres, dance halls, pubs, clubs, cricket, golf range, and a race course came up where there were none," says Major-General (retd.) John Verghese, the widely read raconteur extraordinary, "Everything in Britain was brought here. Well, almost everything. Houses with fountains, tennis courts, and gardens came up in areas such as Richmond Town, South Parade, and St John's Church Road. Even flowers - phlox, zinnias, dahlias, and so on - and veggies such as cauliflower, cabbage, carrots and beetroot were brought from good ol' Blighty!"

In this period of rapid change, Lord Mayo (christened Richard Southwell Bourke) was appointed the Viceroy and Governor General of India, who hastened the development process. In the short 1869-72 period he was in India, this Trinity College, Dublin graduate travelled extensively, was greatly impressed with the people and the land, and said that Britain should hold India "as long as the sun shines in heaven". This sentiment was widely and enthusiastically shared in the Empire.

However, on a visit to Port Blair's prison, Lord Mayo's life was cut short. He was assassinated, stabbed to death by Sher Ali, a Pathan life convict, the only Indian Viceroy to be murdered in office. His murder was an act of vendetta. The convict who killed him did so to avenge his father's death in the Anglo-Afghan War.

As a tribute to this administrator a commemorative building was erected on South Parade, on a flat ground with trees, flowering bushes and a low wall on the south side. Terraced lawns surrounded the two-story building. It cost about Rs 45,000, a sum largely raised through public subscription.

The Mayo Hall was inaugurated by the British Resident on June 6, 1883 - with considerable pomp and pageantry. As per the Bangalore District Gazetteer, "The building in elevation is remarkable for its composition of architravated and pedimented windows, varied with key-storied arches, beautifully executed consoles, balustraded ledges and typical Greek cornice."

Inside the building had a number of exquisitely framed pictures of the British nobility and outstanding citizens in the hall. In the first floor there were Italian chandeliers, ornate furniture and exquisite furnishings. Being on a hill, Mayo Hall offered a panoramic view of the Parade grounds and Ulsoor Lake on the one side and the Shoolay Lake, Race Course and Brigade Grounds in the south.

The late Kora Chandy described the Mayo Hall as 'one of the most elegant public buildings of the era in Southern India.' Several Greco-Roman elements and influences are apparent in the building: architrave and pediment windows, key-stoned arches, balustrade ledges, beautiful consoles, Greek cornices, Tuscan columns, and wooden floors.

Today Mayo Hall stands shorn of its greenery and breathing space. Tall buildings such as the Public Utility building, and the Central Mall, form its neighbours. The snarl of heavy traffic can be heard non-stop. So what is the future of this historical building?

As old buildings bite the dust one by one, there is an apprehension a similar fate awaits many of Bangalore's landmarks. In the Western world we see the community take pride and interest in history and heritage.

Many a philanthropist and the local government collaborate to support efforts that preserve and promote heritage and culture.

Mayo Hall is a case in point in history-rich Bangalore that deserves such support.

Ref: 1) Deccan Herald, Metrolife, Monday July 12, 2004 http://www.deccanherald.com/Archives/july122004/metro9.asp 2) Bangalore District Gazetteer, page no. 946