4
BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
19
th annual edition
The cathedral was designed in the Indo-
Gothic style by William Nairn Forbes, a
military engineer who was later promoted to
Major General and was also responsible for
the design of the old Calcutta Mint, where
he held the post of Mint Master. The tall
central spire and square tower beneath were
inspired by a similar feature at the 12th-
century cathedral in Canterbury, England.
The upper portion of the tower, which
originally reached a height of 61m (200ft), was
destroyed twice by earthquakes, in 1897 and
1934.
Finally, it was rebuilt as a replica of the
Bell Harry Tower of Canterbury Cathedral.
The nave of the cathedral is large, with
beautifully carved wooden pews and chairs,
a stained glass window to the west, intricate
coloured artwork covering the eastern walls,
and two marvellous Florentine frescoes.
The cathedral is 75m (247ft) long and 25m
(81
ft) wide and is set in huge grounds
with several ancient trees. The church is a
feast for the eyes, with fine murals vividly
recording the life and work of St Paul.
Bishop Wilson is buried at the cathedral
and the commission plate conferred on him
by Queen Victoria is still exhibited here.
Many interim repairs to the cathedral
are now causing problems. The walls were
rendered with hard cement plaster and
painted with cement-based paint. This
compromised the wall’s ability to breathe
and, compounded by rising damp, resulted
in the de-bonding of plaster and flaking
of paint finishes. The sacrificial gable tin
roof, which covers the curvilinear wooden
decorative ceiling and is supported on a
truss, has been renewed several times.
The rainwater pipes, previously encased
inside the buttress wall, were exposed and
changed into water spouts. However, the
water draining from the spouts falls from a
great height onto the facade and the window
panels, causing damage. Furthermore, the
gutter at the end of the steep gable roof is not
deep enough to discharge the rainwater in
the event of a heavy shower. The diameter of
the pipe that links the gutter and the spouts
is too small and often becomes blocked
with leaves or feathers resulting in water
leaking, particularly on the peripheral wall.
Another serious problem is the cracks
which have been gradually spreading since
they appeared when the Kolkata Metro
underground railway was constructed not
far from the cathedral two decades ago.
On being approached by the church
authority to look into the current problems
of the cathedral, I have advised the members
of the cathedral maintenance committee
to devise a long-term repair strategy and
to prepare a detailed conservation plan
which will become a reference document for
future maintenance or repair work. While
we address the causes of the problems one
by one, we have started compiling detailed
documentation and a condition survey of
the fabric. We have increased the depth
of the gutter and the diameter of the pipe
which has solved the problem of rainwater
discharge leaking on the walls of the nave.
A more careful approach to the care
of the cathedral is needed. Conservation
is a continuous process, but this principle
has yet to fully take root in Kolkata, even
among the custodians of the city’s heritage.
A long-term view of preventive conservation
and daily maintenance of the historic fabric
needs to be fostered. Any contrary approach
leads to more invasive and often unnecessary
intervention, which often results in more
permanent damage and loss of historic fabric.
Promoting the conservation mindset
can be a battle, but it is one that must
be fought and won if Kolkata’s historic
buildings are to be protected for posterity.
St James’ Church, Jora Girja
The recently completed conservation
of St James’ Church took two years of
meticulous planning and implementation
and 21 consultative meetings with the
members of the church. The project has seen
the church rescued from a state of decline,
carefully conserved and, finally, rededicated
in December 2011 by Revd Bishop Ashoke
Biswas nearly 150 years after its consecration
by Bishop Cotton on 25 July 1864.
The first design for St James’ Church is
believed to have been made by Sir Gilbert Scott,
as illustrated in a watercolour by CG Wray, and
it seems likely that the present design, by Walter
Granville, is based on this proposal, but without
the central church tower. It is one of the largest
churches in the city and certainly unique in its
architectural expression; a prominent 19th-
century early English Gothic church with traces
of Norman details. The outer walls are firmly
supported on all sides by well-proportioned
buttresses. The plan is cruciform, with the
top of the cross formed by the sanctuary, the
arms by the transepts and the foot by the
nave. The semi-circular Norman apse at the
far end completes the plan of the church. At
the west-end there is a spacious porte-cochère
with two pointed arches on the eastern and
western sides. Above this, an ornamented
gabled frontage is surmounted by a cross and
flanked on both sides with the two double-tier
towers which give the church its local name,
Interior of the restored St James’ Church, Kolkata
Restored gilded angels in the south transept of St James’ Church
