Imperial Delhi: Index Plan of Lay-out, c.1913 (colour litho)

Archive of Albert Edward Peter Griessen (1875–1935) – New Delhi, 1913-1922 Mounted on linen terminating in wooden batons, scale 12 inches: 1 mile (1:5280), hand-coloured urban zoning with associated key on right-hand side, stencilled ‘C.E. 628/4’, printed label reading ‘ISSUED FOR GOVERNMENT USE ONLY/ INDENT NO [left blank] SHEET NO [‘4700’ added by hand]’, annotated in red ‘TO BE RETURNED HORT: DIVISION’; A splendid plan for ‘Imperial Delhi’, now New Delhi, showing the earliest layout as conceived by Lutyens and Baker, to be used by Albert Griessen and his Horticultural Division in the design of the outdoor spaces. No copy recorded at auction (ABPC/RBH). Presumably disseminated by the architects’ office to the relevant municipal planning sub-departments, this design for the layout of New Delhi is accompanied by pencil plans for certain of the junctions visible thereon, their location identified by a corresponding index number, along with further plans for buildings to be constructed within the city, including Sacred Heart Cathedral: together they shed light on the planning and construction of New Delhi, representing some of the material used by the Horticultural Division as they considered the public spaces that would complement Lutyens’ ambitious designs. The additional material relates in part to Griessen’s labour of love during his time at Delhi: the afforestation of the barren Southern Ridge, including photographs showing the ingenious tree-planting machine used for these ends.