Aliraza Khatri
Mohatta Palace
In the late 1920’s Shivratan Mohatta, an ambitious businessman from Marwar commissioned the architect Ahmed Hussein Agha to design a Rajput palace in Karachi. The palace was to be located in the prestigious locale of Clifton and serve as a summer home for the Mohatta family.
Agha built a spectacular summer palace in the tradition of stone palaces in Rajasthan, using pink Jodhpur stone in combination with fine yellow local stone from Gizri. The amalgam gave the palace a distinctive presence in an elegant neighborhood characterized by British colonial architecture
The palace has an area of 18,500 sq. feet and its facade is trimmed with windows, stone brackets, spandrels, domes, balustrades with carved floral motifs and exquisite railings. It consisted of large stately rooms designed for entertainment on the ground floor and more private facilities on the first floor, where a terrace facing the Arabian Sea has cupola arrangements providing shade from the intense sunlight. Octagonal towers stand proudly at the corners, while an elegant configuration of five domes adorns the roof.
Shivratan Mohatta was to enjoy ornate home for only two decades, as following Partition in 1947 he crossed over a newly demarcated geographical border and returned to his native home in Rajasthan. Following his departure, the Government of Pakistan acquired the building and used it for the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was later given to Fatima Jinnah in lieu of her brother, Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s residence in Bombay. In the mid-sixties during her residence here, Mohatta Palace was dubbed Qasre-e Fatima, becoming the hub of her presidential campaign against Field Marshal Ayub Khan. After she passed away, her sister Shireen moved in to occupy the ground floor but after her demise the Palace and became the subject of a legal dispute among the trustees appointed by the sisters.
The property was sealed and left without an heir until 1995, when at the request of the Government of Sindh, Benazir Bhutto’s government assigned Rs.70 million to the Culture Department of Sindh to purchase and restore the derelict palace. The Culture Department spent Rs.61 million to buy the property and the rest was set aside for restoration.
Conservation work began in 1996, with the stone of the facade being treated to achieve its original colour. Layers of soil and grime that had accumulated over the decades were removed to reveal the original aura of the predominantly pink and yellow stone. The roof, doors and windows were carefully conserved, as were the stunning frescoes on the ceilings. The Palace was restored to its original glory and the eloquent 1920’s cross-cultural masterpiece of Ahmed Hussein Agha won a new lease on life.
heritageonline.com.pk/architecture/mohatta-palace.html
Mohatta Palace
In the late 1920’s Shivratan Mohatta, an ambitious businessman from Marwar commissioned the architect Ahmed Hussein Agha to design a Rajput palace in Karachi. The palace was to be located in the prestigious locale of Clifton and serve as a summer home for the Mohatta family.
Agha built a spectacular summer palace in the tradition of stone palaces in Rajasthan, using pink Jodhpur stone in combination with fine yellow local stone from Gizri. The amalgam gave the palace a distinctive presence in an elegant neighborhood characterized by British colonial architecture
The palace has an area of 18,500 sq. feet and its facade is trimmed with windows, stone brackets, spandrels, domes, balustrades with carved floral motifs and exquisite railings. It consisted of large stately rooms designed for entertainment on the ground floor and more private facilities on the first floor, where a terrace facing the Arabian Sea has cupola arrangements providing shade from the intense sunlight. Octagonal towers stand proudly at the corners, while an elegant configuration of five domes adorns the roof.
Shivratan Mohatta was to enjoy ornate home for only two decades, as following Partition in 1947 he crossed over a newly demarcated geographical border and returned to his native home in Rajasthan. Following his departure, the Government of Pakistan acquired the building and used it for the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was later given to Fatima Jinnah in lieu of her brother, Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s residence in Bombay. In the mid-sixties during her residence here, Mohatta Palace was dubbed Qasre-e Fatima, becoming the hub of her presidential campaign against Field Marshal Ayub Khan. After she passed away, her sister Shireen moved in to occupy the ground floor but after her demise the Palace and became the subject of a legal dispute among the trustees appointed by the sisters.
The property was sealed and left without an heir until 1995, when at the request of the Government of Sindh, Benazir Bhutto’s government assigned Rs.70 million to the Culture Department of Sindh to purchase and restore the derelict palace. The Culture Department spent Rs.61 million to buy the property and the rest was set aside for restoration.
Conservation work began in 1996, with the stone of the facade being treated to achieve its original colour. Layers of soil and grime that had accumulated over the decades were removed to reveal the original aura of the predominantly pink and yellow stone. The roof, doors and windows were carefully conserved, as were the stunning frescoes on the ceilings. The Palace was restored to its original glory and the eloquent 1920’s cross-cultural masterpiece of Ahmed Hussein Agha won a new lease on life.
heritageonline.com.pk/architecture/mohatta-palace.html