Major Charles Mant: The Architect Behind Lakshmi Vilas Palace Who Never Saw It Completed

Today, Lakshmi Vilas Palace is one of the best-known landmarks of Vadodara. Its domes, towers and long corridors are part of the city’s identity.

But the story of the man who first designed it is far less familiar.

Major Charles Mant, a British military engineer and architect, designed the palace for Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. He was one of the architects who helped develop the Indo-Saracenic style in India. He also designed several palaces and public buildings in different parts of the country.

However, he did not live to see Lakshmi Vilas Palace completed.

Mant died in 1881, while the palace was still under construction. The story surrounding his death has been repeated for generations: he became convinced that something was wrong with his design and that the palace would eventually collapse. The fear reportedly became so strong that he took his own life.

There is, however, a caution to this story. Several reports suggest there may have been more to his troubles. They also mention that Mant was in debt and facing financial difficulties at the time of his death. So, while his worries about the palace became the explanation most often repeated later, it may not have been the only reason behind his suicide. The exact circumstances remain unclear.

 

A British architect who studied Indian architecture

Charles Mant was born in 1840. He studied at Cheltenham College and later at the East India Company’s military college at Addiscombe. He came to India in 1859 and joined the Bombay Engineers.

Mant was different from many British architects working in India at the time. He took a strong interest in Indian architecture and culture. He is said to have learnt local languages, partly to communicate better with local people and understand the country in which he was working.

His buildings show that interest. He reportedly sought the assistance of local draughtsman; and used to employ Hindu workers to execute decorative details in the buildings he designed and constructed.

Instead of copying European buildings, Mant used Indian forms along with European planning and engineering. This approach became part of the Indo-Saracenic style, which became popular in British India.

Before coming to Baroda, Mant had already worked on important projects in other princely states. He was associated with palaces in places including Darbhanga and Kolhapur. He also worked on projects in Cooch Behar and elsewhere.

The first important building designed by him was a High School at Surat, erected in and 1869-71, at a cost of $25,000, which was Italian-Gothic in character. Later, he turned his interest towards indigenous styles, and his subsequent works reflected the Hindu-Saracenic style.

The following is a list of architectural works designed by him: Kolhapore High School (1874), Bhownugger High School (1874), Campbell Medical School (1874), Dacca Medical School (1874), Cal-cutta Zoological Garden buildings (1876), Cooch Behar Palace (1876), Durbungah Palace, first design (1876), Colvin’s monument at Agra in the Arabian style, (1876), Northbrook Hall, Dacca (1876), Sealdah Medical School (1876), Mitford Hospital (1876), Temple Medical Schools (1876), Normal Training Vernacular School, Cooch Behar; Swimming Bath, Cooch Behar; Patna Medical Col-lege (1878), Kolhapore Hospital (1878), Joona-gadh High School (1878), Baroda Palace (1878), Kolhapore Palace (1878), Library and Hospital, Baroda (1879), Malabar Hill Church (1880).

Sayajirao’s ambitious palace

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III came to the throne in 1875. He was a young ruler, but he would later become known for his reforms and his efforts to modernize Baroda.

A new palace was part of that vision.

Construction of Lakshmi Vilas Palace began in 1878. Sayajirao entrusted Mant with the design. The palace was planned on a huge scale and combined Indian architectural elements with European ideas.

It was not meant to look like a simple European mansion placed in India.

The design brought together different influences. The palace has Mughal-style public rooms, Rajput influences in the private areas and Gujarati elements in the women’s quarters. Its architecture also includes European features.

For Mant, it was probably the biggest project of his career.

And it would also be his last.

Mant’s Suicide: Did He Fear the Palace Would Collapse?

It is reported that Mant, at the age of 42 years, committed suicide by shooting himself with a Deringer pistol. He was found dead at his apartment in Tavistock-chambers in London, sitting in a chair; with a pistol in his hand and bleeding from a pistol-shot wound in the head.

It was believed that Mant’s suicide was linked to the palace construction glitch. Mant reportedly became convinced that he had made a serious mistake in his calculations. The story says that he believed the palace was structurally unsafe and would eventually collapse.

Another version of the story claims that there was a mistake in the drawings, involving the direction of north, which supposedly resulted in the palace being built as a mirror image of the original design. This version too has been repeated in accounts of the palace, but it is not firmly established. What is known is that Mant died in 1881, when the palace was still unfinished.

Mant reportedly re-examined his design for Lakshmi Vilas Palace, after a failure of a tower in India, to prevent the possibility of a similar accident. Mant, considering his concerns about the stability of the palace, reportedly ordered the foundations of a portion of the palace, which was then above 5 feet or 6 feet above ground, to be strengthened at an additional cost of £1,000. Though the expense was relatively small compared with the palace’s overall cost exceeding £ 200,000; the structural concern, coupled with a heavy pecuniary loss, reportedly affected him deeply.

For years, the story of Mant’s death became closely linked with the palace itself. His fears became part of its history — even though the building continued to stand.

Other possible causes linked to Mant’s suicide

Several reports, of that time, claim that James Edward Clark, a friend of Mant, stated that he was depressed and told him that all his plans in India regarding architectural work had gone wrong which he felt affected his reputation as an architect. However, Mant never expressed any intention of taking his own life.

Another theory links his death to financial reasons. Mant had reportedly suffered losses in some pecuniary transactions, which may have been another possible reason for his suicide. He had reportedly invested his money in several speculations, some of which, after his return to England, resulted in unfavorable outcomes. It caused him severe anxiety. However, all his losses would have been recouped if he lived another year and didn’t commit suicide, as per an estimate. It was noted that within nine years after his first building being erected; Mant had undertaken or commenced works estimated to exceed three-quarters of a million pounds sterling.

Another possible reason is linked to an overdose of laudanum, a drug which he reportedly used to induce sleep.

However, the actual reason behind Mant’s suicide still remains a mystery.

Completion of the palace after Mant’s death

After Mant’s death, architect Robert Fellowes Chisholm took over the project. He completed the Lakshmi Vilas Palace, finally in 1890. So, strictly speaking, Mant designed the palace but did not complete it. The building that stands today is the result of both men’s work.

Lakshmi Vilas Palace Today and Mant’s contribution

Today, Lukshmi Vilas Palace remains closely associated with the Gaekwad family and with Vadodara’s history. It is also remembered as an important example of Indo-Saracenic architecture.

Mant’s contribution to Indian architecture was not limited to one palace. His work across different princely states showed his interest in combining Indian architectural traditions with the ideas and technology of his time.

But it is Lakshmi Vilas that remains most closely connected with his name.

There is something striking about that.

Mant died in 1881. His palace was completed nine years later. The fears that reportedly troubled him did not come true. The building is still standing.

More than a century later, the palace remains one of Vadodara’s defining landmarks. Mant, meanwhile, survives in the city’s architectural history, surrounded by a story whose details are still not completely clear.