ABSTRACT
The decision to make Delhi the capital of India instead of Calcutta was proclaimed at the Durbar of 1911 by the King-Emperor himself, as he addressed the assembled multitude from beneath a gilded pavilion on the edge of that great plain, scattered with the tombs of forgotten dynasties, where the Imperial city was to be built. The Viceroy's House at New Delhi thus differed from all the other Indian Government Houses in being by a famous architect, rather than by an unknown military engineer or a nameless functionary in the Public Works Department. It also stood apart from the others on account of its size, which far exceeded even Government House, Calcutta. There was open country immediately beyond the Viceregal Estate was not the least of the advantages possessed by New Delhi over Calcutta, where, for many years, the inhabitants of Government House had only been able to ride on the Maidan.
