Mangalore: This heritage bungalow has a story to tell

The Hindu

Mangalore, 15 December 2010: One of the oldest buildings in the heart of the city has been refurbished and opened to the public as a guesthouse.

 

Basel House on the premises of the Karnataka Theological College in Mangalore.

 

Owned by the Karnataka Christian Education Society, which was formerly known as Basel Mission, the bungalow at Balmatta has been christened Basel House. The bungalow retains much of its original structure and design with a few modifications to include modern amenities and other changes for easy maintenance.

 

Nineteenth-century documents of the Basel Mission state that the house and the land around it was gifted to the mission by H.M. Blair, Principal Collector of Canara. As per the records, in September 1840, a large piece of land with an extensive garden and the ruins of public buildings destroyed by the Coorg insurgents in 1837 was ordered by the government to be put up for sale. Blair purchased the land on which this building stood ruined and gifted it to the mission.

 

It is also believed that the bungalow was a judicial court, but no evidence can be found to support this claim, Bennet Amanna, archivist of the Karnataka Theological College Library, said. A wide veranda runs around three sides of the house which is surrounded by trees.

 

The hall at the entrance has furniture sufficient to seat several people at a roundtable and a sofa set.

 

A chest of drawers with a simple design has been kept in a corner, while a writing desk occupies another portion of the room. The bungalow has three rooms, one of which has a direct entrance from outside. The rooms have cots and other furnishings. A kitchen is also available for the guests.

 

Secretary of the society Rev. Hannibal Cabral said that in the past, several researchers and a family from Germany stayed in the bungalow, even when its structure was damaged.

 

The society decided to repair and refurbish the house so that researchers and scholars would have a place to stay, and also the heritage of the building could be preserved, he said.