Architects race to document Secunderabad station as it is razed for a new building

Secunderabad station in 1948 Secunderabad station in 1948.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

As the news about the demolition of the main building of Secunderabad Railway Station spread, architect Srinivas Murthy rushed his team armed with sketchbooks and cameras to document the building. “I want to document whatever remains. We need to know the dimensions and understand the legacy of the building. It may not be a heritage building but as citizens we need to know how our city looked some years ago,” says Mr. Murthy about his endeavour.

Main building of the Secunderabad Railway Station being demolished on Thursday (February 13, 2025).
| Photo Credit:
G. Ramakrishna

“Every 20 years a new layer is added to cities. That’s the nature of urbanisation. But we should not lose information about the underlying layers. The building may not be a heritage site but was iconic and there could have been a workaround the old building while improving amenities,” says Mr. Murthy who has extensively document art deco buildings in Hyderabad.

While the building being demolished is considered to be from the time of beginning of rail connectivity to Secunderabad in 1874, Mr. Murthy believes the building is late Art Deco dating sometime after the 1940s. “If you see the old photographs the road level has gone up considerably. I am hoping that once they remove the layers to dig the foundation we will find the foundation stone and other details,” he says.

On Friday afternoon, an earthmover was perched on a heap of rubble bringing down the last vestiges of the central portico and the elevation of the building. It was the same building that American photographer Jack Birns documented in 1948. The photograph from that period shows NSR written on the building for Nizam State Railway. A few decades later, a plaque was added to the main entrance honouring Maha Vir Chakra awardee Wing Commander William Macdonald Goodman. A few decades later bright sparkling Cherial paintings showing Telangana Talli, Sankranthi and other everyday events from Telangana were added to the main foyer. “We did not remove anything from inside,” said a worker on the site as a police official shooed away people trying the photograph the ongoing demolition work.

Secunderabad station in 1948.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“Sad to see a landmark building go. I don’t know if enough thought was given to preserving the facade without affecting development. I don’t think it was a listed Heritage Building and the Station was increasingly unusable from this side,” says Raghu Cidambi, a long time resident of Marredpally.

“The building that is being razed can be dated to 1948. This construction was done as a wraparound the old 1874 building. Till this demolition, the inside staircases were the same as were built when the station was first inaugurated,” says convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Anuradha Reddy.

“As children when we travelled to Madras, leaving Secunderabad station was like leaving home. Stepping out of the train we felt like we are home. But with this demolition the sense of ownership and belonging is gone. Now the feeling will be like the same that we experience at any airport in the world,” says Ms. Reddy echoing the sentiments a number of people for whom the word Secunderabad station brought alive the image of the building with signages in three language and the clock.