T he Fort High School building, an iconic edifice of the princely Mysore State era, is undergoing restoration. Built in two phases beginning in 1907, it stands on over two acres of land in Kalasipalya at the rear of the famed Tipu Sultan’s Bangalore Palace. Though the school has fallen out of favour with the local populace with majority of students switching over to English medium schools, the building occupies a prominent place in the city’s history as it was the first school in the former princely State to open its portals to commoners. The Maharaja’s administration lavished a lot of attention in raising the structure and provided it over two acres of land in the forecourt for sports activities.
A mix of styles
Architects find it difficult to classify the building style as it borrows elements from both colonial and vernacular styles. If the octagonal projecting bays and ornamented Roman arches are reminiscent of colonial architecture, the central courtyard and sloping roof with Mangalore tiles betray local influence. The entire structure is of lime, brick and mortar with columns in the ground floor verandah chiselled out of stone and the ones in the first floor made of wood.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has taken up the restoration project which is being funded by a private firm and may entail a final expenditure of ₹2.5 crore. Currently, 30 persons including architects, conservationists and masons are working on the project. The work began eight months ago and may take another 12 months to complete.
According to Pankaj Modi, a conservation architect and INTACH’s Project Coordinator, the building seems to have been built in two phases. The first phase beginning in 1907 saw construction of nine rooms in the front building. The next phase, which is estimated to have been taken up 20 years later, imparted a U-shape to the edifice with addition of 14 rooms.
Pankaj says the structure was sound and foundation needs no refurbishment. However, at a few places weeds and trees have germinated and extended their roots inside the structure. These would need careful extraction and filling of the cracks. The conservation demanded preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) which entailed photographic and numerical documentation of each rafter, beam, pillar, and bracket before being dismantled. He says 70% of the tiles can be reused.
‘Amazing structure’
S. Raghunath, Consultant, INTACH (who also teaches at BMS College of Engineering), terms the building ‘an amazing structure’ which used Polonceau Truss for tiled roof rising conically over the central hall, imparting the building an impressive crown. Polonceau Truss, developed by French engineer Camille Polonceau (1813-1859), combined timber and iron and represented the spirit of the time. It satisfied both aesthetics and structural issues. The trusses were seemingly imported from England.
Pankaj says the walls of the building were load-bearing. However, the stone pillars in the front verandah also supported the structure. Teakwood frames were used for constructing the walls in the upper floor and it could be known only after the plaster was exposed. Similarly the foundation was studied by excavating a six-foot-deep pit along the plinth.
Teakwood has been used in nearly all the beams and rafters which have been found to be in exceptionally good condition barring at intersections where rainwater seepage has damaged them. Nearly seventy per cent tiles are also in fine fettle and can be reused. The project envisages use of only original and authentic material in order to conserve the structure in its pristine form for posterity.
The Fort High School comprises a 15,000 sq. ft area with all rooms roofed with either Jack Arches or Madras Terrace material.
