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Entering the SMI from Gate 2, you chance upon a library to the right of the structure. Originally, it used to be the principal's residence. The plaque on it reads, “The Building was Erected as the Residence of the Principal of the Sindh Madressahtul Islam by H. H. Mir Sir Faiz Mahomed Khan Talpur, GCIE, Ruler of the Khairpur State, 1898.”

James Stratchen was the architect of the historical institution. During the period he designed this building, the architect was going through a time in which he was taken in by Indo-Gothic style. It is believed that the Sindh Madressahtul Islam has architectural similarities to the Strachan designed Empress Market. But the Tudor arches on the first storey and ogive arches on the ground floor impart a different look to it.

The inception of the S.M.I. was inspired by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's Aligarh Muslim Association, and was established as a high school in 1885 for Muslim boys' education by Khan Bahadur Hassanally Effendi, who was then the president of the Sind Mahomedan Association. Afterwards a boarding house for ‘Young Talpurs' was constructed in 1901, Hassanally and Khairpur hostels were made in 1909 and 1910 respectively. The Mir of Khairpur provided the wherewithal for the latter.

P.R.O. and head of the technical section Sindh Madressahtul Islam Anwer Abro says, “Actually there were four houses, namely Talpur House, Hassanally House, Sardar House, and Khairpur House, of which only Talpur House remains, whereas the other three stand there in the form of S. M. Science College, which functions under the Sindh Government.

In 1972 the institution was nationalised and its administrative control was given to the provincial government. In 1974, Z. A. Bhutto decided that the main school building should be looked after by the federal government. In 1990, a primary school was established by the then principal Mazharul Haq Siddiqui. Here I would like to mention that in the 1930s someone suggested the establishment of a girls' school on this premises, which was resisted by the then management of the S.M.I. Between 1974 and 1994 was a lean period for the institution. It was in 1994 that Mohammad Ali Shaikh became principal and things started to look up. He tried to modernise the SMI and was instrumental in having secondary classes for girls at the institution.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman]

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