Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans heritage tag for ex-CM Siddhartha Shankar Ray's home to 'protect and preserve' history

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has started a move to save the home of former Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray - a privately owned architecturally and historically significant house - by including it on its heritage list.
KMC member, mayor-in-council, and local councillor Sandip Ranjan Bakshi said an initiative was being taken to protect the historic value of the building at all costs."We can't afford to lose the building. It is of great historic value. The architecture of the building is also apt to include it on the heritage list," Bakshi said.

But this may not be an easy task. "This is private property, and is not included on the heritage list," said Ayan Ray, Ray's grandnephew, adding, "If the KMC serves notice, I will reply to it." Ayan co-owns the property, which now operates as a homestay, with his sisters.
The house is a two-storeyed red brick structure built in 1900. Apart from Ray, it hosted a series of famous guests: Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Pandit Ravi Shankar, to name a few. The house bears the nameplate of Ray's father, Sudhir Kumar Ray, a barrister at Calcutta High Court.
Last week, officials from KMC's heritage conservation department took stock of the building. They are due to submit a report on its status. The team also interacted with one of the owners. According to a KMC official, going by the architecture and historic value of the building, the structure should get the heritage tag.
The building, with a sprawling lawn, occupies 18 cottahs. Situated off south Kolkata's Hazra Road, 2 Beltala Road is a landmark in the locality.
Home to Siddhartha and wife Maya Ray, the house is now a homestay. It offers two rooms that can accommodate six guests.
The house is an amalgam of colonial and local architecture that evolved organically around that time," said conservation architect Parth Ranjan Das. Ray was born in this house in 1920. Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy and gynaecologist Sir Kedar Chandra Das were present at his birth, as were CR Das, Ray's maternal grandfather, and his wife Basanti Devi. Ray's library is packed with law books novels and records, some of which date back to the 16th century.
Ray's law chamber has autographed frames of Indira Gandhi, Mujibur Rahman, Bill Clinton and Dalai Lama. Heritage experts and historians said the house was a fit case for inclusion on the heritage list, which was prepared in the 1990s by a team led by historian Barun De.
"Besides being involved with the city's cultural and political history, it exemplifies an important phase in the city's architectural history. I hope the KMC Heritage Conservation Committee accords it heritage status soon," said writer Amit Chaudhuri, founder of Calcutta Architectural Legacies that pushes for conservation of buildings that define neighbourhoods.