Most discussions about the influence of the design style of art deco in India seem to focus on impressive buildings in Mumbai or Chennai. But tucked away in Hyderabad are quieter, equally elegant structures inspired by the subtle geometry and streamlined elegance of the style. – homes, commercial buildings, banks, schools, universities and cinema halls.
In Hyderabad, art deco reveals itself gently, in understated domestic settings, with deeply personal touches.
Presented in 1925 at an exhibition in Paris called the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, art deco percolated into many spheres of design, from jewelry and furniture to automobiles and even saris.
In Hyderabad, the first art deco buildings were constructed in the 1930s and were in vogue till the late ’50s. It was deployed by architects such as Mohammed Fayazuddin, Zain Yar Jung, the Austrian Karl Heinz and Eric Marret from Britain.
Only around 1,000 art deco buildings remain in the city, bearing typical features of the style such as stylised floral patterns, sunbursts and vertical windows.
Making an appearance
Anuradha Reddy, historian and convenor of INTACH Hyderabad, credits architects Fayazuddin and Heinz for the city’s art deco heritage. Her granduncle, the Raja of Wanaparthy, Ramdev Rao, built one of the first art deco buildings in the city for a new home he was building in the early 1930s. It is now the Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology.
Heinz came to Bombay as a refugee in the 1930s, fleeing Hitler’s crackdown on the Bauhaus art movement. He made his way to Hyderabad thanks to the German Circle, a cultural group with close links to the country.
Fayazuddin, said Reddy, had been educated at the JJ College of Architecture in Mumbai and then in the UK. “Later on, while returning to India from England, he came via Spain and was greatly inspired by the Moorish architecture of the country,” she said.
After devastating floods in 1908, Hyderabad began growing outside the old city. Newer areas such as Banjara Hills were being developed. The aristocracy of the princely state of Hyderabad were inspired by the flamboyance of the art deco style, which was already being embraced by royalty elsewhere in the country.
Many had encountered this new style during their travels to Europe and were keen to follow the latest trends.
These architects used the topography of the Deccan to build grand structures that came to be seen as symbols of a new age. They used geography and elevation of the area to great effect.
Confluence of styles
Indian art deco is unique because it used design elements from older periods in a decorative manner, said architect G Srinivas Murthy of the Architectural Design Foundation.
“Indian art deco has adopted elements from different styles – the jharokas and floral patterns from the Hindu temples, the pointed arches and jaalis from the Islamic architecture, the chaitya or the arch from the Buddhist viharas, and the columns and the grand staircases from Europe,” Murthy said.
Hyderabad, with its influences from the Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi dynasties, incorporated the style and gave it a new syntax. From motifs like the swastikas and Om symbols from the Hindu lexicon to the geometric patterns on the city’s older Islamic buildings, the Hyderabad art deco language had a syncretic vocabulary.
Some buildings by Heinz were designed in the forms of ocean liners and airplanes, as did several art deco buildings around the world. Fayazuddin’s designs, which include the Salar Jung Museum and the State Bank building, retain influences from Moorish styles.
A rare repository
Art deco buildings are characterised by the distinct use of curvilinear forms, parapets, rounded staircases (which gracefully resemble parts of circles) and place an emphasis on horizontality rather than verticality.
“Sunshades that swirl around a building, the top of boundary walls in the form of waves that rise and fall, as well as circular grills, are other distinct features of the style,” said architect Yeshwant Ramamurthy.
Jeera Colony in Secunderabad is a treasure house of this style: around 30 sprawling art deco houses still survive. Built by Gujarati migrants in the 1940s, it is a residential enclave with pastel facades, decorative balconies (with motifs ranging from parrots and lotuses and even a boat) and the in-situ terrazzo finish flooring that makes this street a portal into the past, even as the rest of the city surged forward.
Other prominent art deco structures in Hyderabad are the Arts College at Osmania University, the Zinda Tilismath building, the State Bank of Hyderabad in Gunfoundry, the Congress Bhavan, Arya Samaj Mandir, Niloufer Hospital and the State Central Library at Afzal Gunj.
Many are dotted across older colonies in the city, including the bylanes of Afzal Gunj, Padma Rao Nagar, Himayat Nagar and parts of Secunderabad.
The future of these buildings, though, is in question as many are increasingly being demolished (including the Secunderabad railway station in February). As Hyderabad marches into the future, its art deco legacy stands at a crossroads, caught between reverence and redevelopment.
Why are these structures important and in need of being saved? “Why is the Charminar important?” said Reddy. “Why were the participants of Miss World [held in Hyderabad at the end of May] taken to the Old City and not the gleaming glass buildings of Hitech City? Because heritage tells us the story of who we are, and art deco tells us of an important period of our heritage where we married international design with local sensibilities.”
Added Ramamurthy, these art deco buildings are “anchors to the sensibilities of a city and showcases its history”.
Mallik Thatipalli is a journalist from Hyderabad who writes on art, culture and literature.
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