PHOTOS: The streets of Delhi, during times of Covid-19

The streets of Delhi feel like they have metasised into a time warp of the past. Wide open pristine boulevards, and telling architecture that harkens history with compelling contemporaneity, present a

May 06, 2020, 13:04 IST3 min

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Delhi’s Central Post Office: Two architects dominated the shaping of Delhi’s design DNA in the last century. In the early part, Sir Edwin Lutyens for forging the city’s imperial stature and in the 1950s, Habib Rehman, the man who built modern Delhi. Dak Bhawan was designed in 1954 with a wide facade extending along Patel Chowk and is Delhi’s Central Post Office. Directly across from Dak B

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President House: Monkeys are Delhi’s permanent witnesses to both its glorious and inglorious evolution. They lounge on King Georges Avenue, now called South Avenue, cocking a snook at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the distance, and mocking its pretence to power.

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South Block: A sandstone block encapsulating The Prime Minister’s Office., The Ministry of Defence and The Ministry of External Affairs. Take the road straight up Rajpath, journey up Raisina Hill, and who knows? You could end up running the country. Designed in 1911 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and conceived as the ceremonial axis of a modern Imperial city, South Block is flanked by North Block,

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The Tuberculosis Association of India Building represents the best of Anglo-Indian architecture of the 1930s in New Delhi. Its architect was Walter Sykes George, who will also be remembered by every Stephanian as the designer of Delhi University"s iconic St. Stephens College. The Tuberculosis Association Building features adjustable lightweight horizontal louvers in juxtaposition to its m

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The State Trading Corporation"s alphabetical style building, designed by globally feted Delhi architect Raj Rewal, was completed by 1989. It is a towering landmark on Janpath and also home to the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, a treasure trove of high quality handmade products from every single Indian state, and arguably the best collection of sarees and carpets on sale. Rewal’s oth

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Civil Lines, Old Delhi: A gently decaying building in old Delhi on the edge of Kashmere Gate and the brink of Delhi’s Civil Lines, settings best captured in "Clear Light of Day", Anita Desai’s moving autopsy of family bonding. Civil Lines was developed in 1857, the year of the great uprising. European families who lived in the walled city shifted to set up abode in the land between the ri

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The Khan Market Gang is missing from Delhi’s toniest, and ironically, most expensive real estate shopping cluster, built in 1951 to house immigrant refugees from the North West Frontier and to honour legendary freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan. Its iconic shops, and marquee eateries await corona-free days of aimless shopping and sushi chatter against the establishment.

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Oxford Book Store: There is indisputably no rival to the magnificent Georgian architecture of Connaught Place, Delhi’s eternal hub for romance and recreation. Named after the Duke of Connaught and built between 1929 to 1933, Connaught Place’s unique three-ringed trinity circle is wrapped around majestic columns, weaving in and out of nooks and corners, with legendary restaurants, movie th

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Regal Theatre, built in 1932, was originally the venue for ballets, plays and theatre. It also became Hollywood’s first choice for exhibiting epics of those decades, starting with the premiere of Gone with the Wind in 1940. It was also where we saw Raj Kapoor’s Sangam and Mera Naam Joker. Regal will always remain a breathtaking symbol of Delhi’s continuing tryst with timeless cinema.

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Indian Red Cross Society building: The man known as "adhi Dilli ka maalik, owner of half of Delhi" and who constructed much of Delhi in his lifetime, Sir Sobha Singh built the Indian Red Cross Society building on Red Cross Road, a stone"s throw from Parliament. Sobha Singh also built Connaught Place, Modern School, St. Columbus School, The National Museum and the list goes on. Everywhere

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