The Hermitage (an old British building), Kumaun University, Nainital

 


The Hermitage is an old British building, situated in a serene and sunny hillock North of Nainital beneath the mighty Naina peak, 2611 mt. high. Reminiscent of the British Era, The Hermitage is a beautiful Landmark building in Nainital; Uttarakhand built in the year 1880. It is one of the rare residential building representatives of the British in habitation in the town of Nainital. Hermitage is now the property of the Kumaun University.

The Hermitage was constructed by the British Army officer Colonel W. Barron in the second last decade of the 19th Century. This beautiful building is erected under Indo-British architectural style and over a decent area of 2248 sq. mt of land in this small town. This building is known for its traditional wisdom for its site selection, beautiful wallpapers, gradient of stairs, rain water harvesting system, and tranquil and pleasant location.

Afterward, it was purchased by Nawab Sadabad Kunwar Mohd. Ashraf Ali Khan. Sadabad is a small town in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, as part of BRIJ Kshetra. Before independence, it was under the possession of Kunwar Mohd. Ubaidulla Khan Sahib Rais Dharampur.





Later owners did not change the name of this beautiful building, but he made some minor changes in the design and constructed and fabricated a hall known as Rang Mahal (presently known as S. Hall).

Later he donated The Hermitage to Kumaun University. Hereinafter it was gone into litigation by his descendants but finally Kumaun University got its possession. During the time The Hermitage was victimized by weathering and due to lack of care, it was turned into a dilapidated condition.

After the creation of Uttarakhand this artistic building was taken care, of by the joint efforts of the Government of Uttarakhand, especially the then Chief Minister Sri Narayan Datt Tiwari, and the University. The Hermitage was restored by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) with Rs. 2 Crores in 2004. INTACH carried out a preliminary survey of the Hermitage site to generate a proposal for the conservation and restoration of this British building of this cultural element. INTACH carried out the conservation and restoration of the cultural elements vis-a-vis the wallpapers and the titles. The conservation work was undertaken by the Art and Conservation Centre New Delhi a unit of the Indian Council for Conservation Institutes. The Hermitage was developed as a Centre of IT and companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, HP, etc. were invited. Only Microsoft was turned up and started the certificate course but later on course was winding up despite the full support of the University.



Again this campus was disengaged and in the year 2008, UGC-Academic Staff College now renamed as UGC-Human Resource Development Centre of Kumaun University established at The Hermitage.


Now this building and adjoining area is known as the Centre of Academics and is being shared by the prestigious UGC-Human Resource Development Centre, Department of E-Commerce, Department of Tourism and Women Studies Centre of Kumaun University. Beautiful Doeodar Hall situated in the main building which was known earlier as Rangshala Hall is now utilized for several academic activities.



Dr. Reetesh Sah
Assistant Director
UGC-HRDC-Kumaun University
Nainital

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