 The palatial building is constructed on a very large scale - 600 meters long and 180 meters wide - it was the former residence of the Viceroy of India during the British regime. This splendid building was designed by the illustrious architect Edwin Lutyens here with Herbert Baker. It took near about 20 years and 15 million pounds. Constructed as the Viceral Lodge, Delhi Rashtrapati Bhawan comprises of four floors and 340 rooms. In the present days, it is known as the President House of New Delhi . After Independence it became the Government House and in 1950 it was renamed as the Rashtrapati Bhavan on India becoming a Republic.
The architectural wonder is a variety of Mughal and Western styles. The columns at the front entrance have bells carved into them and Lutyens designed them with the idea that since the bells couldn't make sounds, the British rule would never come to an end. Rashtrapati Bhawan is the highlight of Lutyens New Delhi and was completed in 1929.
At one time, the crowed of 2,000 people was required to look after the building and serve the Viceroy's household. It has an imposing garden called the Mughal Gardens, which is covering some 13 acres of land, and it open to the public for a short while in the month of February when various kind of flowers are in full bloom.
Erstwhile, the residence of the British Viceroy in India, and at the present day the official residence of the president of the Indian republic, was designed by the great architect named Edwin Lutyens as part of the new imperial city that now the present capital, shifted from former capital Calcutta where the British empire had struck root in India. The rest of the new city sported Indo-Saracenic architecture at its grandest.
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