Empress suffers a blow

KARACHI, March 27: Inaugurated in March 1898, the Empress Market suffered another blow to its glory over a century later when a huge fire destroyed at least one of the four galleries towards the rear entrance to the building housing around 100 shops and stalls. The century-old colonial structure, which is protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act owing to its historical importance and beautiful architecture, has remained a victim of official neglect over the past many decades. While the strong stonewalls of the affected gallery became blackened, its roof made of wood and sheets of tin as well as beams that supported it was destroyed in the fire in the early hours of Sunday. The overall losses, however, can be calculated once a proper survey of the colonial structure is conducted by architects. According to a city district government official, who manages the market, the affected part of the building is called the grocery area though most grocery shops have shifted outside the market over the years and the existing stalls in the grocery area sell general items. The Empress Market, designed by James Strachan, was constructed with Gizri sandstone. Its foundation stone was laid by the then Governor of Bombay, Sir James Ferguson, in November 1984 and it was inaugurated in March 1889. The market was named to commemorate Queen Victoria`s (the then Empress of India who ruled from the United Kingdom) silver jubilee. The shops are arranged around a 130×100-foot central courtyard in four galleries, each 46 feet wide. The foundation was laid by an English firm A.J. Attfield and the building was constructed by a local firm Mahmood Niwan and Dulloo Khejoo at a cost of Rs120,000. It is one of the most beautiful market structures constructed by the colonial rulers in the subcontinent. Originally the Empress Market had gardens and p arks all around it, but the green lawns vanished over the year and land grabbers encroached upon these spaces and constructed shops and markets there. Presently, there are shops, some of which are owned by the government, around the historical structure. The once beautiful market building is now in a dilapidated condition and requires immediate restoration. It has a 140-foot-tall clock tower, but none of the clocks fixed on all the four sides works. Located in the heart of the old city, this was once the most prestigious and architecturally most beautiful market in the city serving mostly the English rulers, the army men and Goan population and a few local elite that resided in Saddar. Over the years Saddar has turned into one of the most polluted areas in the city with thousands of buses, minibuses and other vehicular traffic passing through it all the day.