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Once you are there, no need to think. Just imbibe the atmosphere. It is the Karachi Grammar School (KGS) building, no ordinary work of stonemasonry.

If you feel the principal's bungalow (with its arched openings and a sloping roof) to the right of the entrance is evidence enough of the structure's more than a century old architectural splendor, wait till you reach the office section a few steps ahead.

The building, one book suggests, was designed by Thomas F. Dowden of the Royal Engineers and it was established by Bartle Frere in 1854 for the children of European Protestants in the cantonment. The initial classes were taken in a Methodist church, but then the need for more space was felt and construction of the main structure began. With the passage of time, three blocks or wings were added to it. The first one on the left; another on the right, which initially was a residential area for expatriate teachers and now serves as the administrative block; and a third behind the main building, known as the World War II Memorial built to honour the Grammarians who lost their lives in the Second World War. While the original structure was made in Gizri stone the rest are not of the same material.

“I'm referring to the simple treatment of its facade. Till the fag end of the 19th century, the British were very parsimonious in designing buildings; they had economic issues and wanted construction work to be of a functional nature. Therefore you can see that the KGS is not an embellished piece of stonework, as some other old Karachi buildings are. Not until the late 19th century that the British began making embellished facades. And architectures need to be analysed in the context of the period they were built in. But the marked feature of this functional structure is that it has produced generations of brilliant individuals who have served society, and at the same time kept its treasured intrinsic values unharmed”.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman]

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