Design Consisting of four floors and 340 rooms, with a floor area of , it was built using 700 million bricks and of stone with little steel. The design of the building fell into the period of the
Edwardian Baroque, a time at which emphasis was placed on the use of heavy classical motifs to emphasise power. The design process of the mansion was long, complicated and politically charged. Lutyens' early designs were all starkly classical and entirely European in style, although he wished to do it in classical Indian style – India never had a uniform architecture for public use. In the post-
Mutiny era, however, it was decided that sensitivity must be shown to the local surroundings to better integrate the building within its political context, and after much political debate, Lutyens conceded to incorporating local
Indo-Saracenic motifs, albeit in a rather superficial decoration form on the skin of the building. Various Indian elements were added to the building. These included several circular stone basins on top of the building, as water features are an important part of Indian architecture. There was also a traditional Indian
chujja or
chhajja, which occupied the place of a
frieze in classical architecture; it was a sharp, thin, protruding element which extended from the building, and created deep shadows. It blocks harsh sunlight from the windows and also shields the windows from heavy rain during the monsoon season. On the roofline were several
chuttris, which helped to break up the flatness of the roofline not covered by the dome. Lutyens appropriated some Indian design elements but used them sparingly and effectively throughout the building. There were pierced screens in red sandstone, called
jalis or jaalis, inspired by Rajasthani designs. The front of the palace, on the east side, has twelve unevenly spaced massive columns with the
Delhi Order capitals, a "nonce order" Lutyens invented for this building, with
Ashokan details. The capitals have a fusion of
acanthus leaves with the four pendant Indian
bells. The bells are similar in style to Indian
Hindu and
Buddhist temples, the idea is inspired by a
Jain temple at
Moodabidri in Karnataka. One bell is on each corner at the top of the column. As there is an ancient Indian belief that bells signalled the end of a dynasty, it was said that as the bells were silent British rule in India would not end. There is also the presence of
Mughal and European colonial architectural elements. Overall the structure is distinctly different from other contemporary British Colonial symbols, although other New Delhi buildings, such as the
Secretariat Building, New Delhi, mainly by Herbert Baker, have similarities e.g. both are built with cream and red Dholpur sandstone. Lutyens added several small personal elements to the house, such as an area in the garden walls and two ventilator windows on the stateroom to look like the glasses which he wore. The Viceregal Lodge was completed largely by 1929, and (along with the rest of New Delhi) inaugurated officially in 1931. Between 1932 and 1933 important decorations were added, especially in the ballroom, and executed by the Italian painter
Tommaso Colonnello. It has 340 decorated rooms and a floor area of . The structure includes 700 million bricks and 3.5 million cubic feet (85,000 m³) of stone, with only minimal usage of steel. Lutyens established
ateliers in Delhi and
Lahore to employ local craftsmen. The chief engineer of the project was Sir Teja Singh Malik, and four main contractors included
Sir Sobha Singh. == Layout plan ==