Ghat-side Haveli Restoration
Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
- Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
- 2021
- Completed
- Heritage Haveli Restoration
- 880 sq.m
- 1,040 sq.m
- Private family trust
The haveli stands a few steps from the Kshipra ghats, its street front worn by monsoon damp and decades of unplanned cement repairs. The family who still live in it asked for a restoration that would keep the house habitable, bring back the carved sandstone and jharokha windows, and make room for a small workshop on the ground floor.
We approached the work as a survey first. Each bay was recorded, stone was mapped by type and condition, and cement patches were cut out to make way for repairs in lime mortar matched to the original. Damaged carved brackets were copied from surviving pieces and fixed with pinned stone rather than resin, so that future repairs can follow the same methods.
The ground-floor courtyard, once filled with rubble and stored furniture, is open to the sky again. A channel drawn from the roof recharges the courtyard floor, and the kitchen and bathroom have been moved to the rear to keep the courtyard as the household's cool centre. The workshop sits under the old arcade and opens to the lane through restored timber shutters.
“Conservation is slower than demolition, and it keeps more of the city.”
Seen in photographs
The ideas that shape the building
- 01
Lime mortar, not cement
Failed cement patches were replaced in lime, which breathes with the walls and stops trapped damp.
- 02
Carved brackets copied in stone
Missing brackets were modelled from surviving pieces, carved in matching sandstone and pinned in place.
- 03
Courtyard returned to use
The courtyard, once used for storage, now gives the household shaded seating and a rain channel.
- 04
Workshop under the arcade
A ground-floor workshop reuses the old arcade and opens to the lane through restored timber shutters.
Dholpur Sandstone
Lime Plaster
Teak
Lakhori Brick
Then and now
- Ar. [Founder Name]
- [Team Member 4]
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