A 125-year-old Vicarabad cottage embodies `grace, glory, and grandeur'

Hyderabad: Doesn't it look like a typical 'country house' in England suburbs with a similar foreground? No! This beautiful English-style cottage with a huge green tract of foreground surrounded by age-old trees is located in Vicarabad about 70 km away from Hyderabad.

This property was once owned by a British family. Around 1905 `Mary A Knotts School' was established here. It still operates a large campus on the opposite road. This school provided education to thousands of children who lived in this once town of Vicarabad and other adjoining villages.

Vicarabad being at a higher altitude was a preferred summer getaway for many affluent families of Hyderabad. British were first to inhabit the hilly regions of India, as the prevalent regional climate suited them most.

All through my childhood, I carry nostalgic memories of spending summer holidays in Vicarabad staying at my ancestral farmhouse, which still exists with us. I remember very clearly, that adjacent to this school there was 'Crawford Hospital' in an old beautiful colonial-style building under the administration of a missionary organization, which is now demolished.

Architecture:

It's a complete stone masonry structure. By observing the texture of the stone, it appears to have been procured from nearby Tandur village.

The front facade has 'Twin Gable' roofs supported on wood rafters, forming a 'valley ' in between, has highly placed two circular vents to disperse hot air during summers, vents are encased in stone masonry with 'key stones' locking the masonry. A 'lean to' one-sided sloping roof entrance verandah encased on three sides, very typical of English style homes in India, windows are with 'Segmental' arches on them. A curved stairway leads to the plinth level.

This cottage sets an example of how a 125-year-old structure can be maintained beautifully. "Huge applause for the fantastic upkeep of the property"

- This article has been written by Asif Ali Khan. He's an architect based in Hyderabad.