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The House of Mangaldas
Girdhardas (MG for short) was the home
of Mr. Mangaldas Girdhardas - amongst Ahmedabad's
foremost businessmen and philanthropist
of the early 20th century. He started his
career as a store-keeper in a textile mill.
Within a decade, he became its owner and
soon after, he was over seeing an empire
comprising of a clutch of mills and other
related businesses. With his increasing
influence in the community, he decided to
build a new residence for himself and his
family in the year 1924, across from the
famous Sidi Sayed Mosque. He died soon after
in 1928. By 1950, his entire family moved
to another location, leaving this house
vacant. A large portion of the house was
requisitioned by the government between
1955 and 1960 and the rest was used by the
accounts offices of the family. One half
of the house, that is covered by bill boards
and has not been restored, belonged to his
brother, Chimanlal Girdhardas and his descendents
continue to be its landlords. In 1994, the
House of MG was taken over by Victoria
Capital Ventures Ltd., a company managed
by Abhay Mangaldas, great grand son of MG,
for renovation and reuse.
Spread over a 2500 square yard plot, the
building has a built up an area of approximately
25,000 square feet. Its architecture is
a confluence of different styles. An ornamental
façade with a Baroque influence,
Italian mosaic and marble flooring, stained
glass windows, courtyards and passages spread
over multiple levels and asymmetric rooms.
It is a building with surprises around every
corner. The aim of the project is to adaptively
reuse the spaces to cater to a modern lifestyle
without losing either the historical perspective
or the traditional customs of a Gujarati
home.
The master plan, right
from the start, was to make The House
of MG a Heritage Hotel complex. The
first restaurant, Agashiye, started
in June 1999 on the terrace of the building.
The Green House, a courtyard café,
began operations in October 1999 followed
by ‘The HBM Lounge’,
a banquet facility, in February 2001. As
the tenants vacated the third floor in 2002,
work on the hotel began and by November
2003, ten rooms were ready. Late 2004 saw
an additional of two more rooms, with one
of them a ‘Full Service Apartment’
designed for long stays.
The Lotus Pool, comprising of an
indoor swimming pool, health club and restaurant
serving international snacks was added on
September 23, 2006. This unique space
is open to all patrons of The House of MG.
Guests can enjoy a swim and a snacks from
7AM to 11PM. Locker facility is available
at the venue.
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