vernacular-architecture-jaipur-old-haveli
Street Photography In Jaipur

Derelict Jaipur Haveli | Street Photography

Sitting silently in one of the bylanes of old Jaipur city area is this old Haveli. So many people pass by hardly noticing its presence. In a lane full of houses, this is the only facade that retains its original look. The residents claim that locality is as old as Jaipur- 300 years! Presumably, the Haveli is 200 or 250 years old. Who knows?

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The building is in a ruinous state nevertheless continues to provide shelter its residents. As I watched this building and clicked these pictures, I was puzzled with two contrasting thoughts. Should we celebrate the fact that this building retains its authentic architecture or piqued with the fact that it is suffering a lingering death?

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At that moment there was another thought flashing my mind. Very likely, the residents don’t possess enough resources for the upkeep of the building. Money, a reason why conventional building structures in the vicinity were razed for new construction to provide the residents with modern facilities. It is an irony and reveals two sides of a coin. It is excellent old has survived but for how long? I fail to resolve this question.

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On a first glance, the hand cart parked vertically in front of the entrance looks like an eye-sore. But on a different level, you realize that this “eye-sore” gives this building its character – Identity and also a kind of a prop adding to its architecture.

What do you think?

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72 thoughts on “Derelict Jaipur Haveli | Street Photography”

    1. Thanks, Todd. You are right this is not the lane we went together. We passed through the lanes which had Havelis owned by the business community. This is from another area in the vicinity. You have a good memory! 🙂

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  2. You can hardly expect the poor people who live there to restore and maintain the building. This where the city of Jaipur must jump in with some financial aid a) to preserve a heritage site and b) to remove the eye sore from this beautiful city.

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    1. I wish if this was true. The city authorities have no such schemes and there are many such buildings. I know many historic cities in Europe have such assistance plans. Thanks for sharing your valuable insights. 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Rajlaxmi. This one is in in a derelict condition but it is not abandoned. I agree a building like this has many untold stories associated with it. Do you capture such buildings too?

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    1. That is missing in our country. Even though there are laws that prevent razing down the old buildings but people find some loopholes in law in collusion with corrupt officials. I’m afraid in another 20-30 years we will have just a few old buildings. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Cornelia.

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      1. Arv, that sounds pretty sad, that the government won’t take care of such amazing old buildings, I mean this is the history of the country, to be preserved for the future of next generation, children you might relate to it. Unfortunately it seems to be kind of trend in other countries as well. Pretty sad. Yet let’s look forward to the good things happening. have a great weekend , Arv

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      2. Cornelia, it is combination of many reasons – lack of awareness, paucity of funds, and populist policies are some of the reasons. I guess it is quite common in Asian countries; it is different in Europe, though.
        Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Cornelia. You too have a great weekend.

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    1. Happy to know you enjoyed reading this post, Dora. I will surely check out your post. And thanks for offering a cup of coffee. Much appreciated. 🙂

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  11. You would hope the city would provide some financial support to maintain the interesting old buildings. Even a city intent on modernising needs its older buildings as a contrast, and to provide some…soul.

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    1. I agree, Mick that there must be some solution sponsored by the municipal authorities. But looking at how things are, I wouldn’t even imagine that happening. These building are real identity of a city. Modern architecture exist everywhere – no big deal.

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    1. well said. I think any building that is more than 100-200 years old has seen many generations and therefore has many stories. Do you love old facades?

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  13. Arv, let me first come to your photos, they are amazing. The cart has added to the story of the picture, very well done. Now coming to your thoughts, it’s really tough to answer such puzzling thoughts. I personally wish that the residents had enough money to renovate these ancient buildings and preserve them in their rich original condition rather than giving way to the new constructions. Coming back to reality this is just a wishful thought and in due course of time these building will end up to be ravaged to make way to the new buildings.

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    1. Sarmistha, However, we may like the reality is that the residents of old house want new facilities which are impossible to accomodate in such old architecture. Take for example, the concept of common toilets in old houses, people these days are used to different level of convinience which impossible to create out of old houses. And that leads to either demolotion or sale of old houses. Unless there is a complete ban which is hard thing to do, these old architecture will keep making a vanishing act. Thanks for appreciating; all I have done is captured so I can’t take credit for the beauty in this picture. 🙂

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      1. I totally agree to what you have said, taking your example to renovate or to restructure the old buildings to fit in the modern world amenities is tough and the price for it is exorbitant and is just not affordable for the residents resulting in the sad and ultimate stage of demolition or sale.
        🙂 Now, you are showing you humble side but you definitely have an eye for it to make them some perfect captures. Keep clicking. 🙂

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      2. I feel a lot of things will go their own way and unless the authorities are serious in execution there is nothing much we all can do.
        Thanks for the appreciation, Sarmistha 🙂

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  14. Beautiful capture, Arvind! It is sad to see that old buildings are dying a silent death due to the lack of resources. It is a similar story I see in Bangalore with the few remaining old structures that are so photo-worthy but leave you feeling sad that they won’t last long enough and might be pulled down someday to make way for a new one.

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    1. I don’t know if we need to change our mindset and adjust to the reality, Esha. It is a sad fact of life. I’m sure it is universal. Let’s at least capture its beauty and share it with everyone before its disappear. Do you have pictures to share? Thanks for sharing your views.

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      1. One way of treasuring them is to capture their beauty and leave it for posterity! The other part of renovating them, refurbishing and restoring them keeping their old look intact is a pretty expensive option and not many owners can afford. I am thinking of doing a series on them sometime. It might sound kind of sad, but there are many of them in Bangalore being pulled down to make way for new apartments, much to the relief of the owners as well. So, it works both ways, I guess.

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    1. I don’t know much about the residents all I know is that this house still serves as a dwelling unit. Thanks for sharing your views, Neel. Do you love old buildings?

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  20. I think government should restore/repair. If the building collapses people will get hurt or lose lives. Besides such an old artefact must be restored as heritage.

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    1. We all know how system works in our country. I agree that this is an important part of our heritage, culture, and history; it needs some attention and help. I wish we had some mechanism to rescue old & derelict buildings.

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