Competing Visions of Empire in the Colonial Built Environment: Sir Bradford Leslie and the Building of New Delhi.

In 1911, the Government of India transferred the imperial seat of government from Calcutta to Delhi. The decision initiated an ambitious colonial building project that consumed massive human, material, and financial resources for the next two decades. The new city was meant to be not just a site of government but also a symbol of a new direction in British rule. As such, the transfer and building of a new capital caused tremendous debate in parliament, in the press, and in the worlds of art and finance. This paper examines one of these debates: the precise location of the new capital in the Delhi area. When news reached London that the Government of India planned to build the new capital in a largely rural area with little connection to Delhi's existing European community, Sir Bradford Leslie, an eminent railway engineer with long experience in India, prepared a town plan that placed the capital back within Delhi's European civil lines. His plan, the controversy it created, and its eventual rejection by the Government of India highlighted arguments over the meaning of British rule in India and who should benefit from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]