Grandeur of age-old haveli still intact
Lala Kaidar Nath, a wealthy Hindu of Gujrat, was an honorary magistrate, who built the mighty and majestic building outside the old walled city in 1905.
Covering four kanals and 19 marlas, the building that houses 25 rooms is among a few attractive buildings in Gujrat. Its architectural design reminds one of the Greek and Roman architecture.
Ms Tehmina, assistant professor of fine arts, said the building was an exquisite blend of Greek and Roman architecture.
Lala Kaidar Nath, who died in the 1935 Quetta earthquake, would distribute charity among the needy in front of his haveli.
At that very place the government had made a fountain some five decades ago. Nath’s family migrated to India in 1947.
Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah inaugurated the college for women at Kaidar Nath Haveli in 1949. Her personal secretary Begum Surraya Saleem became the first principal of the college.
The college, which was taken over by the education department in 1952, has so far served thousands of students.
In the year 2005, the district government with the expertise of the archaeology department got completed the project of renovation and preservation of the building to its original form.
The then education minister, Mian Imran Masood, changed the name of the college from Government College for Women to Government Fatima Jinnah College for Women.
The college building is now the property of University of Gujrat as the institution has been merged into UoG.
Kaidar Nath Haveli earned another distinction when the Punjab government declared it the first campus of UoG in 2006. Since the UoG got its new campus at Hafiz Hayat village in July 2007, the haveli is now called the university’s old campus.
With the installation of new fountains and maintenance of the building, the Kaidar Nath Haveli attracts a large number of visitors, particularly in the evening.
Illuminated with colourful lights, the fountains add to the beauty of the building as Fowara Chowk is also the entry point to the city.