Raj Vilas: A Century-Old Mysuru Bungalow Learns to Live Again

A century-old bungalow in Mysuru has emerged from a near six-year restoration as a working example of how heritage homes can be updated without being embalmed. Raj Vilas, on Balkrishna Rao Road, was built between 1900 and 1910 in the erstwhile kingdom of Mysore and acquired in 1992 by Raja Chandra, husband of Indirakshi Devi, the fourth daughter of the late Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.

The house takes its name from Raja Chandra, with a nod to the British Raj. It was bought from the family after whom the road is named and was rented out until 2014, when the family — by then based in Bengaluru — began weighing a boutique stay or vacation rental. As work progressed, attachment grew, and the plan changed: Raj Vilas is now a holiday home where the extended family gathers on weekends.

Old front, new rear

The façade and front half of the bungalow were retained; the rear was demolished and rebuilt. Conservation architect Sanjog Shetty, brought in by Raja Chandra's son Aditya Guru Dev in 2019, studied the original proportions and replicated them in the new construction. The old wing holds the entrance portico, foyer, office room, a bedroom and bathroom, a first-floor living area and a large terrace balcony. The extension adds three ensuite bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room and a double-height cut-out with a skylight.

The original structure's character survives in its pitched Mangalore tile roof, load-bearing walls 14 to 18 inches thick, A-shaped 'monkey top' window sunshades and lime mortar finishes. That mortar was made with lime fermented with jaggery, waterproofed by resin from a local tree. Local contractor Mahesh Ninganna, who had worked with INTACH, was found to supply labour familiar with such materials. Retired BMS College of Engineering civil engineering professor S. Raghunath, a masonry and load-bearing structures specialist who has collaborated with INTACH, advised on structural decisions.

Engineering the upgrade

The foundations of the two wings were kept independent to protect both structures. Steel beams replaced wood where needed to strengthen the new Madras terrace roof, built from closely spaced timber beams layered with diagonal thin bricks and lime mortar. Raising the first-floor roof was among the harder tasks: tiles, rafters and trusses were removed, the exposed wall cleaned, a matching wall built, and a wall beam introduced to connect the four walls before the sloping Mangalore tile roof was reinstated.

During restoration of the front, the building was stripped and replastered in lime mortar, with every cornice and moulding retained. Original walls of two-and-a-half bricks were slimmed to two bricks, enlarging rooms while holding the proportions. Wood used across the home was repurposed from older houses demolished nearby, and lime-based paints kept the plaster breathable. Double-frame windows were saved, with new ones mirroring the old aesthetic and gaining mosquito mesh. Terracotta flooring, including early-1900s Basel Mission tiles, was kept in places, with new terracotta elsewhere and patterned tiles in the new bathrooms. The original wooden staircase, the sole link between floors, remains the interior's centrepiece, joined by a tall glass chandelier and matching new railings and balustrades.

Walls that carry a story

Bengaluru-based MAIA Design, founded by Shruti Jaipuria, handled the interiors. Handcrafted wooden Kinnala dolls from a 500-year-old craft cluster in Koppal, Karnataka, highlight a fading art form. Twelve frames recreate images from the Sri Tattva Nidhi, a Kannada treatise on South Indian iconography held at the Mysuru Palace, based on a literary compilation by Krishnaraja Wadiyar III. Old board games were recreated and framed. Rooms are white with a low colour border drawn from four birds of the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary — yellow for the yellow-throated bulbul, blue for the Indian roller, brown for the black-rumped flameback and pink for the painted stork — reflecting the family's love of birdwatching.

For Samyukta Lakshmi, a documentary photographer and photojournalist, the change is practical. The house once hosted events with a single bathroom; now she visits with her dog, Govi, for short stays. The result is neither a frozen relic nor a modern erasure — a century-old edifice that is at once old and new.