This urban revival story started in 2007- a group of us, Prof. Santosh Ghosh, filmmaker Supriyo Nandy, myself, several others were having a discussion at the Centre for Built Environment about the unplanned way Kolkata was growing. And how, in the euphoria of the new, the old parts of the city were getting into a state of decay. We thought let’s do something; let’s gather peoples support and initiate a rejuvenation of our city- at least a street. As a pilot project, we narrowed in on Park Street, Kolkata’s fine dining and entertainment hub.
Now, why Park Street? There were several reasons. Firstly, Park Street is the drawing room of our city. It is where we go out; take our visitors and the place that every tourist to our city visits and its glory was fading. Secondly, the eateries and pubs were feeling the strain of competition from the newer malls and we felt that they would be keen on a renewal program. Thirdly, the properties on the street are larger; we thought that it may be easier to coordinate fewer stakeholders and of course, lastly, the area was very well known to me as I grew up on nearby Chowringhee.
A little bit about the history of the street- Park Street got its name from the Deer Park that included the stately house of Henry Vansittart, which is where Loreto House stands today. Before these mansions came up, this was known as the Burial Ground Road. So, palanquin bearers would charge a few extra rupees to get one to this street as it had a reputation of being haunted- it had three burial grounds at the eastern end.
Of these, the French and North Park Street cemetery were demolished. Only the South Park Street Cemetery still exists, housing among others, the graves of Sir William Jones, Charles Dicken’s son and Michael Madhusudan Dutt.
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With the development of the Salt Lake township and eastside development in the seventies, Park Street was reduced to being a thoroughfare linking the east end with Chowringhee and BBD Bag, the Central Business District. This posed serious problems; clogging, pollution and parking. Park Street needed to be understood as the most prestigious destination in Kolkata, not just a transportation bypass road.
18th December 2007, we organised the Kolkata Colloquium at the Oxford Bookstore under the banner of Centre for Built Environment. More than a hundred stakeholders including restauranteurs, shop owners, residents, bureaucrats, municipal and police officials, architects, teachers, students, social activists turned up.
Reorientation of the traffic, utilization of the metro-line, parking, restoration and sensitive reuse of the heritage structures were among the various issues discussed. Such public enthusiasm was generated for this project that in July 2008, the Society for Park Street Rejuvenation Kolkata, SPARK was created…
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Do watch the video ‘PARK STREET CARNIVAL- THE UNTOLD STORY’ to understand how SPARK spearheaded by Architect Monica Khosla Bhargava ignited an urban revival of Kolkata’s Park Street
