KARACHI, Feb 17: Sindh Chief Secretary Raja Mohammad Abbas on Friday stressed the need to create and spread awareness regarding the province's rich cultural heritage so that it could be protected.

Speaking at a function held to unveil a plaque at the recently renovated Edward House, a building protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, he said that there were over 1,000 such buildings in the city protected under the law.

The ceremony marks the completion of the Rs6 million restoration, rehabilitation and conservation project, which started in 2010, of the over a 100-year-old Edward House by the Sindh antiquities department.

Earlier, Sindh Antiquities Secretary Wasim Ursani gave a presentation of the 14-month project, with pictures of Edward House at various stages of the conservation.

Located in the centre of the city, the Edward House was in bad condition until recently as it had been occupied by multiple users and with the passage of time a lot of unqualified interventions had taken place, including the chopping down of the columns on the ground floor to put up shutters for shops.

Several layers of plaster had also been applied to the façade over the years and the seepage from the air conditioners' ducts had affected the building on which microbiological agents had grown.

The Edward House was designed by M. Somake in 1910 on what was previously known as Victoria Road, now Abdullah Haroon Road, in Civil Lines.

His simplified treatment created an interesting building not by the use of a style based on paper patterns, but through its massing and an articulated façade, says Yasmeen Lari's book "The Dual City: Karachi during the Raj."

The simple double-storey structure is constructed using rusticated masonry and draws its charms from the vigorous stone detailing and bays defined by balcony-like projections flanked by columns.

The structure is emphasised by a tall central tower which gives cover to the staircase that leads to the roof, and the balustrade at the roof level provides added height to the building.