06/05/2025
Featuring the Ejiry Collection 🍲
Across India, pre-independence homes linger like quiet archives of time—grand yet unassuming, where colonial influences are framed with indigenous materiality and craft. These residences, with their deep verandahs, lofty ceilings, and ornamental railings, were never built just as a shelter or roof over one’s head; they embodied a way of life shaped by shifting politics, layered culture, and inherited memory.
In the heart of Meerut, one such home stands tucked behind sculpted topiaries and weathered brickwork. Known for generations as Lal Kothi, it was once upon a time home to Urmila Shastri—a prominent freedom fighter and the niece of . The storied bungalow witnessed the arc of history through her life, echoing fond memories, such as her name lovingly inscribed on a balcony façade by her husband.
Decades later, the house found its way to a new family—the Gargs, self-described as a household of artists, collectors, and nurturers of a thoughtful, intentional life. For them, Lal Kothi wasn’t simply a place to live, but a living archive of personal and national heritage. Over time, as the structure aged and their way of living evolved, the need to reimagine the home became clear.
“Our first impression of Lal Kothi was of a quiet time capsule—an estate steeped in memory, still resonant with echoes of its colonial past,” recall Deepanshu Arneja and Surbhi Singhal, co-founders and principal architects at SIAN Architects (), whom the Gargs enlisted for a transformation—not to erase the past, but to coax it gently into the present. “The house had a deeply ingrained legacy that couldn’t be ignored, from its proportions to its materiality.”
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