WR HQ to get facelift

Mumbiai, June 18: The Western Railway WR headquarters opposite Churchgate station will be offered to the United Nations Educational, So...

Mumbiai, June 18: The Western Railway WR headquarters opposite Churchgate station will be offered to the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation UNESCO as a Intertational Heritage Site. Accordingly, the WR, whose centenary celebrations will continue till the last month of this millennium, will kick off as soon as the WR appoints conservation architects for the job.

8220;Several architects have applied and the scrutiny of applications is on,8221; said Vinod Asthana, Chief Public Relations Officer CPRO, WR. On June 15, the WR top brass met with city-based NGOs, including the Urban Design Research Institute, Tasneem Mehta of INTACH and conservation architect Vikas Dilawari were among the people who were present at the meeting. Said Asthana, 8220;We need to properly conserve the building before we approach the UNESCO, and the meeting was the first step towards its conservation.8221; Urban historians Sharda Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra will also be writing the building8217;s history, which will bepublished in book form.

The WR HQ is listed as one of the city8217;s five A grade heritage buildings. It houses the WR8217;s personnel, operations, vigilance and medical and safety departments, the civil engineering section, the mechanical branch besides the boardrooms. 8220;The departments may have to be relocated when conservation work starts,8221; said Asthana. 8220;The conservation will be an attempt to be more sensitive to the building8217;s original grandiose,8221; said Dilawari.The conservation is to be wrapped up within the next two years.

The building may be a 100, yet, it has not suffered any severe structural damages. 8220;The building has, however, suffered beautification which is so easily mistaken to be conservation in our country,8221; commented Dilawari. Some years ago, the building, like several other heritage structures, was painted in an attempt towards beautification. But conservationists say paint does not allow the stone of the structures to breathe8217;. 8220;It is okay if natural dyes are used. But the paint used onthe basalt of the building is a synthetic oil enamel which does not allow the stone to breathe. The stone gets damp in the monsoon and in summer, its top skin chips off, permanently damaging the stone permanently damaged,8221; said Dilawari. 8220;Mostly, such things happen because people are unaware of the ill-effects. The least one can do is to not paint the stone again,8221; he pointed out.

Besides suggestions on the building8217;s conservation, the NGOs have suggested that the WR open up the building to the public at least on weekends so that they can see what is one of the finest examples of the revival of Victorian Gothic architecture, constructed under the direction of noted Victorian architect Federick William Stevens. The NGOs also suggested that the WR do away with the hoardings that mask the heritage site from public gaze.