STEPHEN COURT, THE HISTORY & THE HEIGHT

Calcutta Telegraph
p/frontpage/story_12258933.jsp
March 25 2010
India

We have passed by it a million times, dined, shopped and made merry at
its landmark fun zones, visited friends living or working there. Yet,
how much do we really know about Stephen Court?

Metro drums out a ready-reckoner the day after the devastating fire

Who is Stephen Court named after?

Arathoon Stephen, who is mentioned as the lease-holder for the property
at 18A Park Street in the city’s civic records dating back to World
War I.

Who was Arathoon Stephen?

Born in Iran in 1861, Arathoon Stephen was a member of the Armenian
community in Calcutta, which is believed to have spent a huge amount
of money in shaping the growth of the city.

Stephen was a shareholder and the first managing director of Stephen
Court Ltd. He founded the Grand hotel in Calcutta and the Everest
hotel in Darjeeling, which also saw a devastating fire.

The Everest hotel is now known as the Swiss Hotel. Stephen lived at 2
Camac Street and was known as a patron of education and art. He died
in May 1927.

Who was the owner of the land on which Stephen Court was built?

Peter Charles Earnest Paul was the owner of the land — measuring
3 bigha 17 cottah and 8 chhatak — located at the junction of Park
Street and Middleton Row.

Documents available in the central record room of the Calcutta
Municipal Corporation name PCE Paul as the "official trustee" of 18A
Park Street.

What stood on plot 18A before Stephen Court came up?

A map of the area dating back to 1910 (see right) show a small,
three-storeyed building on the plot. Later, civic records of
August-September 1917 mention a single-storeyed building comprising
one shop.

PCE Paul is named as the owner of the plot and Arathoon Stephen as
the lease-holder and occupier.

When was Stephen Court built?

Stephen Court Ltd was registered under the Companies Act, 1913, in
December, 1923. The company constructed a building comprising three
floors on the plot in 1924.

The usage was mixed (residential and commercial). There was, however,
no differentiation in civic rules regarding residential and commercial
establishments back then.

When were the upper storeys added?

In the 1930s, a fourth floor was added to Stephen Court, without
the necessary civic sanctions. Around 1984, two more storeys were
added illegally.

What happened to the illegal floors?

In 1984, the CMC slapped a notice on the Stephen Court authorities
about the three illegal floors. The same year a hearing was held at
the CMC and all three floors were "regularised" after the building
authorities paid the necessary penalty.

What about fire clearance?

In 1984, according to the civic rules, any building higher than
18 metres required a clearance from the fire department. After the
addition of the three floors, Stephen Court had crossed the 18m mark.

However, owing to a loophole in the law, it didn’t have to obtain
the fire department’s clearance as buildings that were regularised
could skip this requirement.

How many floors is the building now?

According to civic records, Stephen Court has seven floors. That
is because a mezzanine floor was added between the ground and first
floors. The date of this addition is, however, not known.