President House

Location: Rajpath, New Delhi

Rashtrapati Bhawan (Hindi for presidential palace) is the official residence of the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

A portion of the building houses the President's Secretariat as well. The Durbar Hall is used to conduct such state functions as the swearing-in of the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers and presentation of civilian and military honors.

The Ashoka Hall (named for King Ashoka who reigned from 272 to 232 B.C.) is used for the acceptance by the President of credentials from foreign ambassadors, cultural functions in honor of visiting heads of state, and presentation of certain prestigious awards.

The forecourt of the palace is used for official welcomes for visiting foreign leaders.

The history of it's architecture.
Rashtrapati Bhawan was designed by Edwin Lutyens (the principal architect of New Delhi) and built on Raisina Hill as a grand palace for the Viceroy of India. Work on the building began in 1913 and was completed in 1929. The first British Viceroy to occupy the building was Lord Irwin and the last was Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Architectural Brilliance.
The style of this building is a brilliant amalgam of the Mughal (Muslim) Indian and classical European schools of architecture. The building is constructed of two shades of sandstone and measures approximately one kilometer (0.6 mile) around the foundation. The main structure is roughly 195 meters wide and 165 meters deep. It has a colossal central dome surmounting a long colonnade and 340 rooms. The floor area covers roughly 18,580 square meters. The Durbar Hall is 23 meters in diameter and is inlaid with colored marble. The Ashoka Hall, originally built as the state ballroom, is rectangular in shape, measuring 32 meters by 20 meters. The vast forecourt is T-shaped, with the Jaipur Column (a 145-foot-tall pillar) at the center. To the west of the building are the famed Mughal Gardens, which boast an impressive collection of roses and chrysanthemums.

Know more
Prior to Independence this was the viceroy's residence. At the time of Mountbatten, India's last viceroy, the number of servants needed to maintain the 340 rooms and its extensive gardens was enormous. There were 418 gardeners alone, 50 of them boys whose sole job was to chase away birds!

On the marvelous Raisina Hill.
Built on top of Raisina Hill in the south of Old Delhi, this fortress-like palace has been embellished with chandeliers from Belgium, marble from Italy, teakwood obtained from Burma and a rare peach-coloured Dholpur stone from the famous mines used earlier by Mughal Emperors. Over 5,000 laborers, carpenters, engineers and designers worked for eight years using up 4.5 million bricks, 1.5 million cubic feet of stone, 1,350 tonnes of iron and 7,500 tonnes of cement to erect this monumental structure spreading across five acres on a north-south axis.

The awesome Mughal Gardens
Finally, the crowning glory of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which should not be missed during your vacations in New Delhi - the Mughal Gardens. Long before the Viceroy's House was constructed, Lady Hardinge inspired Lutyens to design "a dream of loveliness" like the terraced gardens of Mughal Emperors she had seen in Kashmir. Today, the shimmering sprays from scalloped fountains, soft music from mini-waterfalls, paved pathways running besides lush green lawns and canals of crystal clear water, fruit-laden canopies and a riot of colour from myriad flowers are fascinating.