Ruplal House is a grand 19th century building or mansion in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was erected jointly by two Hindu affluent merchant brothers named Ruplal Das and Raghunath, sons of Swarup Chandra, on the northern bank of Buriganga overlooking a riverfront promenade along the buckland bund in the Farashganj locality of old Dhaka.
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Ruplal House was built on the site at a huge cost, according to the design of an architect of the Martin Company in Calcutta. Divided into two unequal blocks in slightly different styles, it is a two-storeyed edifice. It presents a Grand River front, about 9144m long, and exhibits a fine example of the late Renaissance European architecture introduced during the colonial period. Its ground plan follows the shape of the letter 'E', with three arms extending towards the north or the city side, of which the middle arm projects about 1830m. It accommodates a grand portico carried on a series of lofty semi-Corinthian fluted columns, and surmounted by a triangular pediment, characteristic of Renaissance architecture.
The two blocks include, in two storeys, over fifty rooms of various sizes and of them the central hall on the upper floor of the more impressive western wing was an elegantly decorated dance hall with a wooden floor. On the north and south two broad verandahs run the entire length of the block and are supported on either round semi-Corinthian columns or rectangular brick pillars with segmented or trefoil arches above.
Latitude: 23°42'13.15"N, Longitude: 90°24'47.11"E
Direction to Ruplal House by car:
Go South Towards Buriganga. Figure out a way to go to Jogonnath College , Bahadur Shah Park or Kazi Najrul Govt. College. Park your car and take a rickshaw. Ask around. Its old Dhaka. There are no street signs. Ask the rickshawala to take you to Ruplal House. If it doesn't work, try either one of these places. One of them is bound to work.
1) BK DAS lane (the street Ruplal house is located), 2) Lal Kuthi (a community center few blocks down), 3) Jamal House (local name)
The Ahsan Manzil was taken from the French by Nabob Alimullah in 1835. Parallel to this the 'Rooplal House'- was built by Armenian Jamindar Aratun in 1825. It was bought by Rooplal Das and his brother Roghunath Das in 1835Jhey renovated this house hiring Martin and company, an architectural firm of Calcutta, who had also renovated Ahsan Manzil. It was renovated in the then popular neo-classical style.This period of history witnessed the gradual rise of the merchant class of the society of land owners and Jaminders. Ahsan Manzil and Rooplal House were the ornament of the city growing with the river Buriganga. And with these two houses this area became more posh. Another reason behind the development of the area was the construction of the Buckland bund. Rooplal Das was a Jamindar and a merchant. He was the first educated member of his family. In the Probeshika Exam he stood first and got a scholarship of tk 10 and he was a great fan of music. He did not spend much on social causes but he spent a lot for the musicians. Rooplal house is well known to have hosted a lot of cultural activity of the time. Gurus of Indian classical music like Ostad Alauddin Khan, Ostad Wall Ullah Khan and Lakshmi Devi regularly hosted shows. In the year 1888 when Lord Dafrin was invited to visit Dhaka by the Elites of that time a competition was held between Ahsan Manzil and Rooplal house and Rooplal house won by the vote of the Elites; this added political importance to Rooplal house at that time. For showing off their social status they spent tk 45000 to decorate it. After the earthquake of 1897 the watchtower of the house broke down and the family shifted their home to another place. The great house remained abandoned for next 50 years. The story of Shyam Bazaar starts from after the Dash family left the house. There was a garden on the eastern side of Rooplal House named 'Roghubabur Bagaan' and there was a pool named 'Shayambabur Pool '.After the family left the house the garden lost its beauty because of no maintenance. The market then started here and was known as Shyam Bazar. The bund area was developed as a rich residential area which was occupied mainly by the high class European officers and merchants. But by 1930 the riverfront lost its residential quality and was developed as a higly commercial area. The Dash family left Dhaka after the partition in 1947. The government took authority of the house but in 1948 Siddique Jamal claimed power of attorney over the part of Raghunath Dash and claimed having bought it from the Dash family. Siddique Jamaal lived on the 1 st floor and the ground floor was used as a police camp and revenue office. Siddique Jamal and his son Daud Jamal left the house and Noorjahan Begum and her husband claimed ownership. They have been living here for the last 30 years. The Rooplal block was used as Prince Karim Ago Khan Preparatory school from 1958. In 1973 the house was converted to a college but only lasted for 16 days. Later it was used as the residential accommodation of the family of staff of JCO and NCO army officers. The Rooplal house became government property in 1947 AD. The Roghunath block is under private ownership since 1948 AD.At present the building functions both as a residential and commercial complex. It is heavily encroached by the spice and vegetable vendors and by a colony of un-authorized squatters who have erected shanty hovels against the building. The east block is owned and used by a private owner as residence at first floor and warehouse at the ground floor.
Farashganj
The history begins with Farashganj. In 1730 the French came to Dhaka to set up their businesses. They bought a house on the bank of the Buriganga from Jamindar Sheikh Mutiullah and made their Kuthi in the place currently known as Ahsan Manzi1. The Naib Nazim, Nawazish Ali Khan gave permission to the French to build their market in the area, and it was named 'Frenchganj1, but to the locals it came to be known as 'Farashganj'.The French could not profit much so they left by 1784. The Armenian Jamindar Pogose leased the property from British government.
Buckland Bund
In 1680 A.D. a bund was erected along the bank of the river Buriganga to protect the riverbank from flooding and erosion, and to provide a recreational area along Buriganga. In 1864, the bund was constructed by Commissioner C.T. Buckland and came to be known as Buckland Bund.The Buckland Bund was a new gathering place for the people of Dhaka; they used to come here to enjoy the view of the river. According to the autobiography of Ridoai Nath Mojhumder, 12 steel benches were provided there at first which were not sufficient so 8 more benches were added. The crowd visiting the Buckland Bund at that time proved that it was a very refreshing place and even today after almost 300 years the place is still used as a social gathering place by the local people. The construction of the bund quickly transformed the area into a very posh place and a lot of Zamindars started to erect their mansions on and around this bund.
During its halcyon days, it vied with Ahsan Manzil in splendour and elegance. In 1888 Ruplal gave a ball in honour of Lord Dufferin, the viceroy of India, during his visit to Dhaka in the dance hall of Ruplal House.
Today, the Ruplal House is occupied by local spice and vegetable merchants and a colony of unauthorized squatters. It has recently been "protected" by the Bengali Department of Archaeology; but a colony of squatters still continue to occupy parts of the building. Steps should be taken immediately to preserve this artistic architectural structure from further decoy.