Calcutta Telegraph, India
April 23 2005

Phoenix from urban decay
SUBHRO SAHA

What stands dull and decrepit today, in the heart of Park Street,
could be busy and beautiful in another 18 months.

Heritage hotel and landscaped pedestrian plaza, boutique brands and
bookstore, open-air theatre and rooftop exhibition space, sunken
parking lot and rolling art gallery.

Shades of Leicester Square or a mini Centre Georges Pompidou is what
the 95-year-old Park Mansions promises to evoke after a restoration
and adaptive reuse initiative undertaken by the Apeejay Surrendra
Group (see box).

“We want to create a destination that will give people of all ages
and calling enough reasons to come to Park Street,” stresses Jit
Paul, adviser to the group and the brain behind the revival scheme,
which got the heritage panel nod on Thursday evening.

Constructed by Armenian jute merchant Thaddeus Mesrope Thaddeus in
1910, Park Mansions was acquired by Paul from estate managers Talbot
and Company, and housed the French cultural centre premises, Alliance
Francaise, besides Sky Room, Bombay Photo and Rajniklal.

Alliance was ravaged by a fire, Sky Room downed shutters and the
building – flanked by Park Street, Free School Street and Royd
Street, and hence, with a regal triple frontage – now lies in an
advanced state of urban decay.

“We plan to repair the crumbling edifice and restore it as a vibrant,
iconic rendezvous for residents, with a basket of activities,”
explains architect Dulal Mukherjee, anchoring the design solution.

The five entry points to Park Mansions, built in “old colonial style
with an East European aura”, will be given a facelift with grand
marble lobbies, modern elevators and stairways. A quaint heritage
hotel built across four levels and one-bedroom studio apartments will
complement exclusive brands housed in the retail quarter.

The piece de resistance of the makeover model will be the interactive
zone and pedestrian plaza, created across the 50,000 sq ft central
courtyard, now essentially used as parking space.

“It will be very contemporary and I plan to use deconstruction
architecture to create a feel of unlimited space with a strong
pedestrian axis and totally segregated vehicular traffic,” says
Mukherjee.

With a blend of hard and soft landscaping, the well of the mansion
will throb with activity, revolving around performing arts and music
and spilling onto the rooftop arena. A twin-level sunken parking lot
will hold over 100 vehicles with access along the eastern corridor.

“For two decades, we allowed Park Mansions to disintegrate. Now, we
are determined to make amends and do something positive that would
energise the region and enthuse others,” says Paul, underlining the
need for a holistic restoration drive across the city, instead of
piecemeal efforts.

The Apeejay Surrendra Group plans to retain T3 – The Tea Table at its
present location, across the new-look Flurys. While most of the
ground-level retail tenants like Rajniklal, GKB Opticals, Burlingtons
and Gupta Brothers will stay where they are, talks are on with a host
of new, high-profile new entrants like Citizen.