Claude Batley

Claude Batley F.R.I.B.A., F.I.A.A., (17 October 1879 in Ipswich – 20 March 1956, Bombay) was an English architect who as practitioner, teacher and President of the Indian Institute of Architects from 1921 to 1923, played an influential role in development of modern architecture in India in the first half of the 20th Century.

Career

Born in Ipswich in 1879 and educated at Ipswich School, Batley served his articles locally and in London leaving for India in 1913. In Bombay he started a successful independent architectural practice in 1917 with partners Gregson and King, a firm of architects which is still extant under the name of Gregson, Batley and King.

Among his works are the Bombay Gymkhana (1917); Lincoln House (1933), previously Wankaner House, Breach Candy; Bombay Central Station (1930); Dariya Mahal, residence of Maharaja of Cutch (1930), South Court (1936), residence of Mohamed Ali Jinnah; Round Building (1937), Cusrow Baug in Colaba Causeway (1937–59) and its Agiary, known as The Seth Nusserwanji Hirji Karani Agiary (1938), Bombay Club (1939) later Hotel Nataraj and now Inter-Continental Mumbai, Lalbhai House (1942) and Breach Candy Hospital (1950).

Vijalighar in Ahmedabad

He had designed Vijalighar (Electricity House) on Relief Road, Ahmedabad. The plain façade of the building is follows the curve of the road highlighted by horizontal lines. The main block is separated from the attic by a concrete chhajja.[1]

He became a visiting professor in the J. J. School of Art in the year 1914, and its principal in the year 1923. He held this post for a period of 20 years, during which he took his students on trips all over the country making measure drawings of buildings of architectural significance. He spent a lot of time in research and documented Jaipur's architecture. He was the president of the "Bombay Architectural Association" (now merged into The Indian Institute of Architects) from 1925 to 1926.

He died 1956 in one of the buildings he had designed—The Bombay Club.

Buildings
  • Gymkhana Bambai in 1917
  • Lincoln House Mumbai 1933
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References
  1. Williamson, Daniel (2016). "Modern Architecture and Capitalist Patronage in Ahmedabad, India 1947-1969". ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. New York University. p. 49. Retrieved 18 February 2020 – via ProQuest.
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