Calcutta during the prolonged British rule of 200 years, was a pivotal place, from where had emerged several legendary freedom-fighters and freedom movements. As such, the city was an area which the British could afford to leave unguarded. Due to British concentration of both civil and military life, Calcutta during the pre-independence centuries very much mirrored England in several aspects. Architecture was one such primary sphere. Accordingly architectural developments of Calcutta under British rule were simply overpowering, with stellar presence of Gothic churches, mansions, boulevards and governmental office buildings. Great pain and eye was instilled into making Calcutta an architectural masterpiece.

In 1801, Lord Wellesley (1760-1842), Governor-General of India, acquired seventy acres and two bungalows in Barrackpore, West bengal. Here, he planned a palatial country house, fifteen miles from Calcutta. The British East India Company nipped his plans in the bud by recalling him. Some of the plans went forward, however, resulting in the construction of a main floor for the principal house and several separate structures for guests. The surrounding landscape adjacent to the Hooghly River proved particularly beautiful and much beloved. Later, the tragic death and burial of Lady Charlotte Canning (1817-1861) in Barrackpore brought to closure the joy felt for Barrackpore.

Architectural developments of Calcutta under British rulers were given a regal look, when in January 1803 Lord Wellesley opened the new Government House with a great ball commemorating the Peace of Amiens. The structure consisted of a central block of three floors and four wings. It possessed considerable resemblance to Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. As adapted by Lieutenant Charles Wyatt (1758-1819), Superintendent of Public Works of the Bengal Engineers, it took him six years to complete at a cost of 167,359 pounds. The renovated Government House possessed an Ionic facade. Grey marble from Italy was imported for the floors and teak wood from Burma for interior finishing. Only after 1870 did Lord Mayo (1822-1872) take an interest in landscaping the six-acre site surrounding Government House. Displaying a vigorous interest, he filled it with trees, flowerbeds and ornamental scrubs. Later still Lord Curzon (1859-1925) added electricity, modernised the plumbing and installed electric lifts and fans.

In 1813, placed on Calcutta`s Esplanade, a new Town Hall was constructed and placed in service. Colonel John Garstin (1756-1820). Chief Engineer of Bengal, designed a purely Palladian structure with no local features to moderate the severities of Bengal`s climate. In 1818, Esplanade underwent some significant overhaul.

Within the period of 1815 to 1818, architectural developments of Calcutta under Britishers saw a sweeping escalation, overwhelming as they were in their work. The Presbyterian congregation of Calcutta constructed St. Andrews Church within this time. It possessed many resemblances with St. Martin`s-in-the-Fields, London. The structure proved to have a more coherent expression of classical details than Calcutta`s St. John`s Church.

In the years of 1831 to 1837, the Company build a new mint in Calcutta for the storage of specie and the minting of new coins. It took the appearance of a classic Greek temple. The years of 1839 to 1847, witnessed Calcutta`s architectural developments create history, when St. Paul s Cathedral represented the first cathedral built in Britain`s overseas empire. Major-General William Forbes (1796-1855) of the Bengal Engineers provided its mixed Classical and Gothic design. Later the cathedral added some stained glass, executed by Edward Burne-Jones in memory of Lord Mayo (1822-1872), Viceroy of India, who was assassinated in the Andaman Islands and a statue by Francis Chantrey of Bishop Heber (1783-1826), the second Bishop of Calcutta.