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Dry masonry, the beauty of Shimla’s ‘great wall’

Years back, I had written the following in this column: “We, in Shimla, have the greatest heritage in the shape of a retaining wall on The Mall and if we move from the west to the east, the wall moves with us from the building housing the State Bank of India branch right up to the Clarke’s Hotel and beyond with intermittent building structures breaking its continuity.

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Shriniwas Joshi

Years back, I had written the following in this column: “We, in Shimla, have the greatest heritage in the shape of a retaining wall on The Mall and if we move from the west to the east, the wall moves with us from the building housing the State Bank of India branch right up to the Clarke’s Hotel and beyond with intermittent building structures breaking its continuity. The 3-km-long wall with height ranging from 6 ft to 15 ft at places is a gravity wall typically made of dressed stones and dry masonry that relies on its weight for stability. It may appear a marvel to the present-day engineer of the Municipal Corporation who uses cement for re-erecting the wall wherever it has caved in, thus raising off-ambience structures as are opposite Coffee House and Krishna Bakers”. I am in a quandary in naming it. Breast walls are constructed on the hill side of the road and the retaining walls on the valley side. The wall on The Mall is the breast wall for The Ridge and other constructions on that side and the retaining wall for The Mall. 

Lord Lytton was the Governor General of India from 1876 to 1880 and it was in 1878 that the first impetus to really good roads in Shimla was given. Lytton desired to have The Mall’s gradient levelled so that riding or driving on it is as pleasant as on the Shimla-Kalka road. The Mall was widened, the retaining/ breast wall was built and the wheeled rickshaw started running here in 1879. No cement was used to erect the wall here; it was total dry masonry. But, today, engineers use cement to hold the stones in the wall, wherever it collapses, caring naught for its heritage feature.

But when I saw a dry masonry wall being raised beyond the Chief Minister’s official residence and the Secretariat, I was pleased and thought that the engineers, if they wanted, could raise an attractive wall that pleases the eyes. Yes, where there is a will, there’s a way. Dry masonry is masonry which is put together without mortar. Technically, masonry consists of blocks or stones, which are attached to each other and supported with mortar. So, one can question the use of the term “dry masonry,” but it is generally accepted. There are examples of this building technique found in ancient architecture. Even Gaiety Theatre of Shimla built in 1887 has a mortar of lime and not cement. Such impressive feats of construction engineering have amazed the world. All old walls like that of Troy or Hadrian were not plastered with cement and have stayed to date.

The stones to be used in a dry masonry construction may be trimmed and dressed or left relatively untreated, depending on the aesthetic goal for the structure being created. If I compare the two walls, the wall on The Mall constructed by the British in 1879 and the wall being constructed now from the Chief Minister’s residence to the Secretariat, I find that the stones in the former wall were trimmed and dressed while those in the latter are untreated.

In dry masonry, the stones are carefully stacked and arranged so that these in a wall or any other structure support and hold each other in place. 

Why do I vote for the dry masonry technique? I find that it has certain aesthetic appeal, and maybe I had seen such walls since my childhood, so I like things that are traditional. The wall on The Mall was made with dry set masonry and people remembered the technique because it had historic value and they liked and loved the beauty of ‘Erigeron’ flowers oozing out of the gap between the two stones, which enjoyment they are deprived of wherever the wall is cemented. The gap between the stones in a dry masonry wall is beneficial, as it promotes drainage. Those who had seen Shimla of the olden days still remember the natural beauty of its open spaces, which has now been replaced by artificial beauty — stony, flinty, cold and hard. 

A question arises in my mind whenever I perambulate on The Mall and see the wall: “Is a dry masonry wall more durable than a conventional masonry wall?” The wall on The Mall is 140 years old and is mostly intact despite bearing the burden of the landmass of Kalibari to The Ridge and more without negating the aesthetic appeal.

We have such a heritage beauty in our city and we just glance at it and that is all. Has any environmentalist or writer ever written on it? No, because the world is too much with us. The wall on The Mall has been blossomed by three relief works by a senior artist, MC Saxena. These were painted recently and give a respectable look to the wall. But I feel that these disturb the flow of the wall and should have been in places other than the Great Wall of Shimla.

Tailpiece

Who is the human wall of India? Rahul Sharad Dravid, also known as Mr Dependable.

 
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