Palace grounds

Bangalore Palace
Front facade of the Bangalore Palace
General information
Architectural style	Tudor architecture
Location	Inner Bangalore
Town or city	Bangalore
Country	India
Coordinates	12°59′55″N 77°35′31″E / 12.9987°N 77.5920°E / 12.9987; 77.5920
Construction started	April 1874
Completed	1878
Owner	Maharani Pramoda Devi Wadiyar

Bangalore Palace, a palace located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, in an area owned originally by Rev. J. Garrett, the first principal of the Central High School in Bangalore, now famous as Central College. The commencement of the construction of the palace is attributed to him.

The entire place was purchased from Rev. Garrett in 1873 AD by the British Guardians using the minor Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar X's accumulated personal funds. They were in charge of his education and administrative training in order to make him ready to take over the reign in 1881 AD. As the young Maharaja did not have a suitable place to stay during his training in Bengaluru, this property was purchased. Construction of a palace building was started in April 1874 and completed by 1878. Mr. Cameron of Lalbagh did the landscaping. Many additions and improvements were carried out in subsequent years. In the later years, Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar added some portions outside of Durbar Hall during his reign. The twin external staircase and platform for musicians are additions from this period.

The palace with a floor area of 45,000 sft, and the grounds surrounding it are spread across 454 acres (183 ha). British officials who were in charge of the education of the young prince HH Chamaraja Wodeyar bought the palace in AD 1873 from him at a cost of Rs. 40,000 and later renovated it.

The palace was built in Tudor style architecture with fortified towers, battlements and turrets. The interiors were decorated with elegant wood carvings, floral motifs, cornices and relief paintings on the ceiling. The furniture, which was neo-classical, Victorian and Edwardian in style, was bought from John Roberts and Lazarus. The upkeep of the gardens was the responsibility of the horticulturist Gustav Hermann Krumbiegel. A total of 35 rooms were built in the palace with most of them being bedrooms and a swimming pool. The renovation included addition of stained glass and mirrors, specially imported from England, besides a manual lift and wooden fans from General Electric. In 1970, HH Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar is said to have transferred the possession of the property to two companies promoted by a civil contractor by name Chamaraju, close to the corridors of power. These companies were known as Chamundi Hotels (P) Ltd (110 acre) and Sree Venkateswara Real Estate Enterprises (p) Ltd (344 acre). But on the given date the companies were yet to be incorporated and there was no sale deed either. It was a fraudulent transaction. Maharaja's only son Srikanta Datta Narsimharaja Wadiyar instituted a civil suit against this deal. But the Maharaja HH Jayachamarjendra Wodeyar died in 1974. The legal battle continued and in the mean time Srikanta Datta Narsimharaja Wadiyar gave 28 acres (110,000 m²) each to his five sisters namely Late Gayatri Devi, Meenakshi Devi, Kamakashi Devi, Indrakshi Devi and Vishalakshi Devi in 1983 along the Ramana Mahasrhi Road.