PAPER REVIEW

CONSERVATION OF THE MAIN BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF PUNE (FORMER

GOVERNOR’S HOUSE)

Figure 1View from further away from the South east in 1871

The Main Building, completed in the year 1871 and designed by Architect James Trubshawe, was the
proposed residence of Sir H. Bartle Frere, the then Governor of the Bombay Presidency (1862-1867).
This building with its 100- ft. high tower and stylized terraced garden, is one of the architectural
landmarks in the City and the centerpiece of the University today. The structure has several porches,
Romanesque features as well as a Banquet Hall, a Ballroom with ornamental ceilings and paneled walls,
a kitchen at the end of a 400-foot-long underground tunnel, large entrance halls, wooden staircases, a
library, sitting rooms and bedrooms typical of the architectural style of the 19 Century. Other ancillary
structures including offices, bungalows and stables were added to the grounds for the required support
staff. The building is listed as a Grade I heritage structure, while the entire campus is listed as a heritage
precinct.

The style of this house is difficult to categorize. It was designed by the architect James Trubshawe who
was also in charge of the Ramparts Removal Committee. It was built by the government engineer Mr.
Howard. It certainly did not conform to the Victorian Gothic of the public buildings constructed at the
time in Bombay, and Poona. In fact, it is a mixture of styles, and individual details range from
Romanesque arches on the garden front, and Gothic capitals to a flag tower reminiscent of an Italian
Campanile.
It is a sprawling structure spread lengthwise 300-ft. north to south. Built of dressed grey stone, it is more
like a large-scale bungalow, than a resplendent seat of the Governor of a large province. The grand
impact of Government Houses elsewhere is certainly lacking, but there is no doubt that it has a charm of
its own. The front, facing east, is rather plain, with two porte-cocheres. There are entrances to the two
main portions of the building – the public rooms and the private apartments of the Governor. These two
parts are double-storied, and are joined together by a lower central portion. The tower, 100-ft. high
surmounts the north wing, carrying the flag-staff.

The west façade is quite different from the east front. Here, the fenestration and arcading give the
whole façade a lighter look. The arches are round. The garden entrance is arched and surmounted by a
pediment. All the arches are labelled. The long façade on this side, is broken by a covered verandah with
a terrace roof and three projections which house staircases. The staircases lead up to toilets and were
originally spiral, and made of iron for the use of sweepers. Italianate ornamentation includes corbel
tables, moldings, a projection over a staircase door supported by curved brackets, and even a small
aedicule on a staircase window. Two urns at the entrance emphasize the Italian touch.

While assessing the structure, a preliminary visual assessment was taken out to understand the
problems. Accordingly, the assessment was divided into the following manners:

Foundation:

The wall foundations were opened to 0.9m below the existing ground level all around the building.
The foundation consists of Ashlar fine facing masonry for external walls and Random Rubble
masonry for internal walls built directly on the bedrock. There are neither any cracks in the
foundation wall nor any indication of foundation settlement.

The entire building sits on solid basaltic rock at a depth of between 0.3 and 0.6m from the surface.
The site has a gentle downward slope towards northern side. The depth of the foundation varies
accordingly. As it is more for the north wing. The original ground level is below the existing ground
level. The difference is approximately 0.3 to 0.45m.

Walls:

The walls in the North and South wing are load bearing stone masonry and composite stone and
brick masonry walls. The depth of masonry walls varies between 350mm to 750mm, while the floor-
to- floor height for the ground floor being 5.60m, 3.40m on the first floor and 8.66m for
Dnyaneshwar hall. For spanning over openings arches have been used at most of the places. In the
tower the masonry is 1100 mm thick at the ground floor and 450 mm at the top floor.

The external walls on the North West and East were found to have cracks near the corners and
many of the walls are out of plumb. The south eastern and south western porches added to the
building have moved away while showing cracks in the horseshoe arches. The preliminary
examination showed the walls covered with thick creepers making it impossible to access and
observe the condition of the walls. The creepers were spread over the upper part of the masonry.

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 For the southwestern porch the entire porch was dismantled as the roots of the creepers had grown
into the masonry gaps deep. The entire porch was taken down and rebuilt with minor structural
alterations such as adding of metals bars for roof to reduce the load of the coba above.

In some parts of the wall section where roots weren’t penetrated deeply in the masonry, the roots
were removed and non-shrinkable Cementous grout was injected and finished with lime pointing.

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Floors:

The thickness of first floor flooring is about 200 to 230 mm. It comprises of 450 mm deep steel joists
(primary beams) supporting timber floor joists (secondary beams) spaced at 200 mm centers and
being of size 100 x 200 mm cross section. These floors are largely intact except for the portion below
the open terrace near the Vice Chancellor’s office. Here the seepage of water has loosened the lime
mortar filling which had started dropping off together with the timber false ceiling boards below.

Also, inside the Shivaji Hall (former ball room), due to water supply network, failure water logging
has damaged timber joists of the floor. Thus, sagging of floor has been observed.

As in the case of the Marble Hall where ferrocement precast members were used to replace the
earlier method of timber wedge shaped beams, the reason being better resistance to penetration of
water, is a reversible process and is generally to be revived in the few cases of floor repairs or
partial replacement.

Roof:

The roofs are finished in Mangalore tiles placed on timber battens resting on corrugated Galvanized
iron sheets resting on timber purlins supported by King Post or Queen Post trusses. Some of the flat
roofs over passages are partly in the form of brick jack arch floors and some of them are R.C.C. flat
roofs. These roofs show severe problems of water seepage and in places heavy leakage. There are
several places where the storm water from roof does not reach the ground and gets lost in the
structure due to improper laying of storm water drains or inadequate maintenance. Several changes
in the profiles of roofs, catwalks for access & change in waterproofing are recommended to ensure
better performance of roofs.

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 The roof voids are accessible at two locations. Except for some locations where the timber has
suffered due to wet rot all other trusses and boarding below are in good condition.

As pune lies in zone 3 of seismic zone, it has less severe earthquakes. The structure is sound and no
major damages were found apart from the tree growth and the water clogging due to change in
material, change in use and alterations/modifications done in later times.

In conclusion, some of the iron work in the tower was overlooked due to extreme rust in the original
wrought iron works. Also, water plays an important role if not treated properly causing major
damages as the floors and walls were affected due to addition of toilets on first floor and a water
tank which had started to leak. Creepers and vertical growing trees should never be put directly on
the wall as they damage growing into the masonry cracks. To increase the life of a structure
retrofitting a new material must be done wisely, least its impact on the old material.