Monuments of Modern India: The first half century of railways architecture

The contribution of the Indian Railways in the rich architectural heritage of the country has been significant.

The different styles of these railway buildings can be divided into four major time periods and categories. Read more about the other styles of Indian Railway architecture here :


1. Monuments of Modern India: When European and Indian influences merged at railway stations

2. Monuments of Modern India: Railways architecture in the early 20th Century

In the early days of introduction of the railway in India, the builders, sponsors and their architects were primarily British.  It is thus a natural corollary that the architectural styles they adopted were a reflection of the genres prevailing in Europe at the time. Broadly, the schools of architecture that colonial railway architecture falls into are ‘Neoclassical’, ‘Romanesque’, ‘Italianate’, ‘Gothic Revival’, ‘Indo-Saracenic’ and ‘Modern’ schools. The very first stations were designed in the Neoclassical style. The old Kanpur station, shown in the image, is a perfect example of that simple, geometric stryle of architecture. 

The Neoclassical school of architecture began in the 18th and early 19th centuries as a reaction to the extravagance and ornamentation of the earlier styles. It was a revival of the classical architecture going back to the simplicity of geometric forms used in ancient Greek and Roman styles. Since this style was on the way out by mid-19th century, the number of buildings conforming to it is few and covers the early years of railway construction in the country.

Neoclassical buildings are characterized by their magnificence of scale, the prominent use of columns, the use of geometric forms and symmetry, predominantly blank walls and the triangular pediment.

Neoclassical buildings are characterized by their magnificence of scale, the prominent use of columns, the use of geometric forms and symmetry, predominantly blank walls and the triangular pediment.

The Italianate architectural style was popularised in early Victorian Britain and subsequently became an attractive form adopted in India in the later parts of the 19th century.The main characteristics of this style include imposing cornice structures, prominent cornice and corbels, roman arches, arch headed or pedimented windows, flat or ‘hip’ roof, and windows with distinctive moulded caps. The one outstanding building in this class was the East Indian Railway Head Offices at Calcutta built in 1884.

Philip Davies in his book ‘Splendours of the Raj – British Architecture in India 1660-1947’ described it as “a marvellous Italian palazzo ..... Structurally it is quite extraordinary, pioneering a combination of iron and concrete. The floor trusses and columns are made from worn out rails, the floors from bricks carried on concrete arches ..... to create a structure both cheap and fireproof.”