One such venture in this direction is ‘The Mangaldas ni Haveli‘ by The House of Mangaldas & Giridhardas.ġ.
Owing to the recent awareness programs by eminent architects and city-veterans, the Ahmedabadi mindsets are changing. Ironically, my friends and family couldn’t comprehend my passion to restore the old city. I was mesmerized and captivated by the row-house form of architecture and got involved in restoring the old houses. The beauty of a Pol-house stands testimony to the intimacy of a traditional Gujarati lifestyle that is still alive in this part of the city - a living culture. People knew me to be from the ‘Pol-house’ city. Similarly the old city of Ahmedabad with its bustling narrow lanes, intermingling pols, community announcement boards, the bird feeders, women sojourns on the verandah, the timeless darwajas (city-gates), Goddess Lakshmi temple at the Teen Darwaja, the Calico dome, merging of Indo Islamic monuments, day markets transforming into night food joints and various other images became my identity. A conversation conversation with him led her to unearth this beautiful restoration and reuse story – of a dilapidated haveli into a boutique heritage hotel and restaurant.Īs an old saying goes, “thy roots maketh thy character “. Interior Designer Vaishali Vaishali Shah, an avid conservationist herself, her self, met Abhay Mangaldas – the young and dynamic scion of one of the city’s famous families. The haveli was refurbished and transformed into an interactive and informative exposition that offers an exquisite experience to its visitors, by exposing them to the richness and eloquence of traditional ambience, lifestyle and architecture of this part of the world. One of the fine examples of preservation and adaptive re-use is ‘The Mangaldas ni Haveli‘ by The House of Mangaldas & Giridhardas.
Several such beautiful structures have fallen into disrepair, and many more demolished due to economic pressures, as well as lack of awareness and understanding of the need to preserve our architectural heritage. An antiquated and abandoned traditional Gujarati mansion, situated in the deep insides of a narrow lane of one of the ‘Pols’, in the older part of Ahmedabad, flourishing with profusely and intricately carved doors, windows, and balconies flaunts an architectural language that reflects the intimacy inherent in Gujarati lifestyle.
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