Karachi City, Pakistan
Kharadar Ghulam Hussain Kasim Quarters, Karachi,
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By Tooba Masud in SAMAA. Katrak Mansion, believed to be originally owned by a Parsi businessman Homi Katrak, is located on the crossing of Abdullah Haroon Road (Victoria Road) and Hochand Road (Hochand Nadir Eduljee Dinshaw, who was the president of the central boards of directors of the National Bank of Pakistan). This area is designated as a cultural zone but is now surrounded by newly built high rises. The area is important for its cultural heritage. It has colonial structures such as Frere Hall, and colonial privately owned bungalows along with the modern heritage of Richard Neutra’s American Embassy building. According to architect Marvi Mazhar, who also works in restoration, Civil Lines and Railway Quarter dynamics have aggressively changed in the last few years, going from a low density to high density zone. She pointed out that Katrak Mansion is special for its architectural form: a mixed used, curved corner building with special elements such as an internal courtyard. Residences faced the courtyard while shops were located on the outside. It housed the Ziggurat Art Gallery and Niyazdin & Sons Ext 1930 Tailors and Outfitters. This tailoring shop was meant for upmarket customers and was one of the most famous places of its time. There was a wooden handicraft, furniture shop inside the courtyard. “When we talk about design and architectural identity, research and study of these heritage buildings give us guidelines,” she wrote in a note on the building for SAMAA Digital.
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Very old n beautiful historical building.
Unlike some other structures in the city named after the great philanthropist and Karachi lover, this mansion has a round front. Do not think too much of the yellow colour on the building. It could not have been its original shade. The café and the paan shop on its ground floor, along with a variety of offices in the mansion’s beautiful hall-like spacious rooms, is its 21st century avatar. We shall not comment on them. The fact remains that the building is a distinct piece of construction which needs to be dusted off and cleaned up. Its big wooden doors, solid columns and halls with high ceilings are a sight which is unique in many ways. A little bit of scrubbing and washing can work wonders for it. A small board on one of the outer walls of the edifice reads, ‘Katrak & Co Estd 1891’.
Building seen from outside. There seems no set up that one could visit the interior of this elegant structure. It seems in tatters. I am sure some construction mafias must already be waiting for a chance to get this heritage building demolished and....
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