THE CONTRIBUTION OF BRITISH ENGINEER ARCHITECT COLONEL SAMUEL SWINTON JACOB, (1867 – 1902): PROPONENT OF EUROPEAN INDO ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN COLONIAL INDIA.

Abstract

Lahore is an ancient historic city and possesses a remarkable architectural heritage. The city served as regional capital of many empires but owes much of its architectural developments to Mughal and British. The Mughals laid the physical and social framework of Lahore, while the British transformed the city into modern times by introducing new institutions and technologies. The British government, proceeding to colonize India, constructed many governmental and public building in European classical styles. However, towards the end of 19th century, they assimilated and adopted the native Indian styles in architecture leading to the development of European Indo Islamic style. This paper explores the architectural achievements of the British Executive Engineer and Architect, Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob in India who was intricately involved in the revival of traditional building crafts
in Punjab, particularly, in Jeypore state (now Jaipur) in the late nineteenth century. During his tenure of three decades in India, (1867–1902), he constructed many important buildings both for the Government and the private sector. The buildings he designed were a testimony of a mixture of European and Indo Islamic features, The paper highlights his design philosophy and architectural contributions which have never been discussed in any scholarship with the major focus on Punjab, Lahore as well as Jaipur. The information has been gathered from different sources; site visits, Punjab Archives, British libraries, Annual reports on public works and his portfolio of Jaipur. This research paper will surely open up new avenues for the future researcher in this area