Know Your City: A protected monument today, Bengaluru’s Bowring Institute was once set up to promote knowledge

The first president of the Literary and Scientific institute was L B Bowring, who was the then chief commissioner of the princely state of Mysore, while the secretary was prominent civil servant B L Rice (the Rice Memorial Church was later named in his honour). At the time, the organisation was located on Museum Road opposite where St Joseph Boys’ School stands today. After the Rendition Act of 1881, with the return to power of the Wodeyars, the post of chief commissioner was replaced by the institution of the British resident.

With membership declining in the late 1870s and a drastic rise in rent by 1884, the institute temporarily shifted to Residency Road. It was at this time that B L Rice started taking steps that would result in the modern Bowring Institute. The Bowring Testimonial Fund was approached for funding, while the Mysore royals also contributed Rs 10,000.

The land on which the modern Bowring Institute stands was granted by Major General Rowlands, commanding officer of the Mysore Division, on the condition that a bandstand be maintained within the property. Although this existed in the early years, a historian consulted by the Bowring Institute has stated that it was later moved to Cubbon Park. Interestingly, an abortive attempt to secure space within Mayo Hall also seems to have been made, with the eventual conclusion being reached that Mayo Hall would not have enough space.

Construction for main building begins in 1888

In the end, construction for the Bowring Institute’s main building would start on November 22 1888, with Lady Prendergast, wife of the Resident Lord Prendergast, laying the foundation stone. Today, a bust of Lady Prendergast stands near the location of the foundation stone. The building was eventually completed in 1890 after an expenditure of Rs 23,000.

While Bowring had left Bangalore by this time, he was well aware of the “institute” coming up in his name. He wrote at the time that, “It is a great satisfaction to me that my name should be connected with an institution which will…conduce to the advancement of the intellectual state of the community.” This aspect of the early Bowring Institute has survived in the form of the Residency Library, which was inherited from the Literary and Scientific Institute. It has a host of rare and old books, such as a full set of volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Notably, the youngest printed copies of the ninth edition date back to 1889.

The central building of the institute itself, which is the designated monument, is mostly built in the neoclassical style, with its trademark Greek pillars.

The institute has also preserved a long tradition of sporting activities. According to former treasurer Stuart Clarke: “I remember watching Davis Cup matches where players from the USSR like Alex Metreveli had come to play in the early 60s at Bowring Institute against Jaideep Mukherjee and Premjit Lal. The badminton court is also where Prakash Padukone got his start as a badminton player.” Some of the billiards tables in the club also date back to its foundation, although the difficulty of maintaining them means that they may not remain forever.

The central building of the institute itself, which is the designated monument, is mostly built in the neoclassical style, with its trademark Greek pillars. It is also notable for three sloping roof sections covered with Mangalore tiles, along with flat roofing with teak wood in the Madras style in other sections. The building was built in the traditional lime-mortar method. The main hall, which was probably a ballroom or dance hall in the early years of the club, still has a large number of original European-style mosaic tiles, most of which remain in good condition.

Restoration: From 2014-2021

However, the current appearance of the club owes its existence to an intensive restoration effort over the past decade, from 2014 to 2021, as over 120 years of wear and tear had finally taken its toll on the originally robust construction. According to Stuart Clarke, “It was particularly bad when it rained as the roof used to leak in many places. False ceilings and partitions had been put up…there were three phases for the electric connections and some of these got overloaded so that when an AC was switched on you could see the sparks.”

With the restoration fully underway, the scale of the issue became apparent. Clarke said, “When removing the plaster in some places you could see that parts of the building were full of dust and bugs…it is much harder to restore a building than to build it from scratch. We were lucky to get specialists from Tamil Nadu who were familiar with restoration techniques for old temples using lime-mortar.” The restoration process was funded by the institute itself, with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) advising on the process.

Today, the appearance of Bowring Institute does not easily hint at a building that has undergone extensive restoration. Visitors may note the fresh tiling on the verandah, the Mangalore roof tiles that now bear the coat of arms of the Bowring Institute, the quaint old electric fans in the library – all coming together to create what Stuart Clarke calls “a second home for members”.

Visitors may enter the Bowring Institute if accompanied by a member.