edwin lutyens and new delhi - an ideal garden city - Lutyens Design ...

EDWIN LUTYENS AND NEW DELHI
- AN IDEAL GARDEN CITY
An in-depth visit to the 20 th century’s finest planned city
With Louise Nicholson and Candia Lutyens
Saturday March 9 – Saturday March 16, 2013
Government House, today Rastrapathi Bhawan, Lutyens’s centrepiece for New Delhi
When Edwin Lutyens won the commission to build a new capital for the British Empire’s jewel, his aim was to create a
garden city ‘with room for endless expansion’. He did just that. The city has expanded to be the capital of the world’s
largest democracy, while its spacious core of immaculately designed and executed landmark government and civic
buildings throb with activity, making New Delhi arguably the most successful planned city of the 20 th century.
On our journey we have the great good fortune to be accompanied by Lutyens’s granddaughter Candia Lutyens, who
will share insights and family stories. Together we explore the India Lutyens arrived into, his views on the subcontinent’s
4,000-year-old cultural heritage, and what impressed him enough to be incorporated into his great design.
We learn about the British government’s aspirations for their new capital and how Lutyens rebelled against them –
even cheekily changing the location of the new city after the foundation stone had been laid by the King-Emperor
George V! We see what his team of architects contributed, the scandals during the city’s creation, his breakfast
meetings with the horticulturalist who advised on which trees should line each avenue.
During our Delhi days we go behind the closed doors of Lutyens’s masterpiece Government House (Rastrapathi
Bhawan, government permitting) and other buildings rarely open to the public. We meet with historians, curators,
conservationists, botanists, gardeners and other specialists who maintain New Delhi’s integrity today. We see public
buildings, private buildings and monuments. And we consider how Lutyens’s new city was received at the time and its
later influence in India and globally. Leaving Delhi, we then travel in the footsteps of Lutyens and, with his copious
letters to quote from, visit Agra’s Mughal masterpieces, Gwalior’s great medieval fort and Datia’s Rajput palace.
I do hope you will join Candia and myself on this remarkable study tour. If a week is too short, we are happy to work
with each traveler to create a tailor-made extension before or after it, to any part of the sub-continent.
With best wishes, Louise

About Louise Nicholson
Louise studied for her MA in History of Art at Edinburgh. In London, she worked for The Victorian Society
conservation body and was a founder of The Thirties Society (now the 20 th Century Society). She became a specialist
in Indian and Islamic art at Christie’s, then an arts journalist on The Times where she had a weekly column throughout
the Festival of India. Her two dozen books include award winning guides to India; she was associate producer on
Channel 4’s acclaimed six-part series, The Great Moghuls. She has been leading trips to India for 27 years.
Louise lives in New York. Please visit www.louisesindia.com
About Candia Lutyens
Candia Lutyens, granddaughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens, studied for her MA in PPE at Oxford and is married to Paul
Peterson, an architect. Together they founded Lutyens Furniture & Lighting in 1988 and have assiduously researched
Lutyens’s drawings and surviving furniture to bring a renewed appreciation of his iconic designs and flawless details.
Their bespoke pieces made by traditional craftsmen are considered museum quality.
Candia lives in France. Please visit www.lutyens-furniture.com
THE ITINERARY
Lutyens inspecting building progress by elephant
Saturday March 9 Delhi The Claridges hotel
Deluxe rooms
Today is gathering day: met from your international flight, escorted to your hotel (40-60 minute
drive) and assisted with check-in. Your room is available from noon today. Should you wish to arrive in
advance to acclimatize, we can book these arrangements.
Late this afternoon, an introduction to the tour.
Our hotel: located right inside Lutyens’s core plan and inspired by its surroundings, the 1950s hotel has
recently been beautifully and sensitively renovated. www.claridges.com
Should you wish to upgrade your room, or stay at the lavish Imperial hotel, please ask LN for details
Note: breakfasts and lunches are included in the The Tour starting tomorrow, March 10; the only dinner
included is Monday March 11 gala dinner)
Sunday March 10 Delhi The Claridges hotel
Depart early for a full and busy day touring the city.

Morning: An overview of the historic Delhi cities that Lutyens was familiar with. We visit Lal
Kot, the earliest of several sultanate cities, and the Mughal emperor Humuyun’s fine garden tomb and
nearby Purana Qila. They are adjacent to the Sufi village of Nizamuddin - the oldest living area of Delhi
and a main reason cities were repeatedly built here, another being their strategic position protecting India
from invaders through the Hindu Khush.
A break for coffee.
We go north to New Delhi’s immediate predecessor, Old Delhi, inaugurated in 1658 when its
builder, the Mughal emperor Shah Jehan, brought the capital of Northern India back here from Agra where
it has been for about 250 years. We walk through the Red Fort and take bicycle rickshaws through Old
Delhi city.
Lunch is at the Maidens hotel, where Lutyens lived while working in Delhi.
Afternoon: See the British cantonment and its surviving 18 th and 19 th century buildings, in
particular St James’s church. Continue north to the site of the enormous 1911 Durbar, where on December
12 the King-Emperor George V announced to 562 rulers that the capital of British India was to move from
Calcutta (Kolkata) to Delhi. The site would be right there – until Lutyens decided otherwise.
We end the day with a visit to Imperial hotel, where New Delhi’s inauguration ball was held in 1932. The
builders still own the hotel and the public rooms are hung with their remarkable collection of Company
School paintings and prints, including, appropriately, many fascinating ones exhibited in the 1911 bar.
Monday March 11 Delhi The Claridges Hotel
We embark on our in-depth exploration the heart of Lutyens’s design for New Delhi, looking at
plans, inspirations, exteriors and interiors of buildings including furnishings. This will include Raj Path
(Royal Way) punctuated by Lutyens’s India Gate memorial (visit), and Herbert Baker’s circular Parliament
House (visit) and, up Raisina Hill, his North and South Blocks (visit).
The climax of our day: a detailed visit to Lutyens’s masterpiece, Government House (Rastrapathi
Bhawan) and its Gertrude Jekyll-inspired Mughal Gardens and estate, its staff and carers.
Note: this and some other visits today are dependent on government permission; our schedule,
including lunch, will need to fit with those.
We return to Claridges to prepare for our gala dinner at the renovated Imperial hotel (1933-35)
designed by Reginald Bloomfield.
Preceding the dinner, cocktails (direct payment) are in the Imperial’s aptly named 1911 bar which
displays the Delhi Durbar pictures; more of the hotel owner’s fine collection of Company School paintings
and prints are displayed throughout the ground floor. Dinner is in Daniels restaurant, where we are joined
by four or five New Delhi specialists and toast New Delhi’s inauguration on February 9, 1931. Dinner
included in The Tour.
Tuesday March 12 Delhi The Claridge Hotel
We broaden our exploration of New Delhi, looking at buildings and townscapes by Lutyens,
Baker and the whole team of architects including included J A Brodie, G S C Swinton, and R T Russell
(who designed more than 4,000 residences and civic buildings including Connaught Place shopping mall
inspired by Bath. And we look closely at the horticultural landscaping by Kew-trained William Robertson
Mustoe and W S George, to transform desert scrub into a lush garden city of blossoming avenues.
Our stops will include H E N Medd’s two churches, Church of the Redemption and Church of the
Sacred Heart, and we hope to visit Arthur Shoosmith’s Garrison Church of St Martin (visit). We shall see
Lodi Gardens (where Lutyens was obliged to incorporate medieval tombs into his grand plan), the High
Courts, Princes Circle including Jaipur House (now the National Gallery of Modern Art) and Hyderabad
House (now used government entertaining, visit dependent on government permission), and the National
Museum. We visit some original bungalows, such as Indira Gandhi’s museum-home and the Birla home
(where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated).
Early to bed! (see tomorrow)
Wednesday March 13 to Agra Trident Hotel
Deluxe room

Today we go south from Delhi, to visit sites the Lutyens visited when he was researching India’s
historic buildings – and about which he wrote with great frankness in his letters and diaries.
Very early this morning, we board the train to Agra, departing 06.00hrs, arriving at Agra 08.00hrs.
(This is the only daily service; and driving takes 5-6 hours). Today we see some of the great Mughal
buildings created by Akbar (r.1556-1605), his son Jehangir (r.1605-27) and his grandson Shah Jehan
(r.1627-58).
We drive straight to Fatehpur Sikri (pausing for coffee/snacks en route) to see Akbar’s ideal
palace-city, a collection of ravishing, exquisitely carved red sandstone buildings.
Lunch nearby.
Return to Agra, cross the Yamuna river and visit the Tomb of Itimad ud Daula, entirely inlaid with
coloured stones, and a recently rediscovered Mughal garden, Mehtab Bagh, where we enjoy a beautiful
sunset view of the Taj Mahal – until recently, most people saw the Taj from either the river itself or from
this bank.
Our hotel: part of the quality Oberoi hotel group, contemporary, rooms arranged around a central
courtyard, efficient staff. www.oberoihotels.com
Thursday March 14 to Gwalior Usha Kiran Palace Hotel
Superior rooms
Worth getting up early to experience sunrise at Taj Mahal, Shah Jehan’s wall garden tomb for his
wife, Mumtaz, and exploring the whole complex in the soft morning light.
Breakfast at our hotel
We visit Agra Fort, India’s greatest riverside fort, started by Akbar, with additions by Jehangir and
Shah Jahan. And we visit the craftsmen who today make pietra dura inlay work as it was made for the Taj
Mahal and Agra Fort.
After lunch, we drive south to Gwalior, arriving in time to visit the 1874 palace extravaganza
designed by Lieut. Col. Sir Michael Filose for the Anglophile Gaekwad (ruler) of Gwalior.
Our hotel: Built as the palace for the maharaja of Gwalior’s guests, this is a delightful, modest, renovated
Art Deco country house. www.tajhotels.com
Friday March 15 Gwalior, then to Delhi The Claridges
Morning visit to the extensive medieval Gwalior Fort that Lutyens admired – built on a bluff
above the city, with fort, nearby Hindu temples, Sikh pilgrimage gurdwara, monumental Jain sculptures,
and a palace built for Jehangir’s visit.
After early lunch, drive south to visit Datia where the a multi-storey, centrally symmetrical, stone
palace (1620) built by the Bundelkund ruler Bir Singh Deo, impressed Lutyens greatly.
Take evening train up to Delhi, departing Jhansi at 17.47hrs, arriving Delhi 22.30hrs. Met, taken
to our hotel.
Saturday March 16 Delhi The Claridges
Complete our Delhi sightseeing – there will be meetings with conservationists, restorers and their
craftsmen (furniture makers, stone masons, etc). We also hope to have discussions with photography
archivists, go behind the scenes at museum collections.
As our finale, we take a walk along Raj Path and up Raisina Hill to enjoy magical a magical
sunset.
Departure from India:
Depart India on Saturday March 16 (late night) OR Sunday March 17 (early hours, early morning or
lunchtime) – it takes 45-60 mins to reach the airport nowadays.
Each client is escorted to the international airport and assisted with check-in.
End of The Tour
We are happy to talk with travelers about tailor-made arrangements to extend their visit to India before or after The
Tour.

COST, INCLUSIONS, EXCLUSIONS, TERMS
Lutyens’s flawless detail
The Tour Cost: This is in TWO parts, both payable:
Part I: Booking Fee: USD $1,000 per person, the non-refundable Booking Fee secures your place
and
Part II: The Tour: USD $5,600 per person when sharing a room
The single room supplement for The Tour is USD $1,530 per person
The Cost includes, per person:
‘The Tour’ refers to the itinerary above, the period Friday February 22 – Thursday March 7, 2013
• The services of Louise Nicholson as consultant and resource before and during The Tour
• Candia Lutyens accompanying The Tour
• The services of Quo Vadis Travel’s representatives and local English-speaking professional guides throughout The Tour,
together with entrance and still camera fees for all monuments and museums in The Tour above
• ACCOMODATION: 8 nights in hotels, in the category indicated; check-in time is usually 2pm, check-out time noon
• MEALS: Breakfast and lunch from breakfast March 10 to lunch March 16, table d’hote, at restaurants set out in The Tour
or chosen by Louise Nicholson, including mineral water. Dinner on March 11 at Daniels (or, similar standard), excluding
alcohol, including bottled water. Note: room service meals must be paid for separately, at check-out. breakfasts; lunches
• TRANSPORT: All ground transportation as described in The Tour, in one air-conditioned bus, including bottle water; by
rickshaw (Old Delhi); by train (Delhi-Agra, Jhansi-Delhi, including bottled water)
• SIGHTSEEING: Entrance and still camera fees to all monuments and museums visited during tour sightseeing
• All tips to drivers, bell hops, guides; and to porters at airports, hotels, boats and railway stations
• All presently applicable taxes for the above, as of June 2012. Should others be imposed, a surcharge may be payable
The Cost does not include:
• International airfares or any extra travel outside The Tour; any optional visits, upgrades or pre/post tour bookings
• Any insurance: e.g. personal travel, health, luggage. It is vital to consider taking adequate cover
• Expenses of personal nature such as alcohol, laundry, room service, excess baggage fees.
• Personal tips throughout the tour (please allow about $100 for local guides, drivers, etc)
• Medical requirements, excess baggage handling, etc
• Visa, required for all foreign nationals visiting India; it is the sole responsibility of each client to acquire their visa
• Video camera charges; these should be paid direct at the time of entry
• Anything not specified in the Itinerary or Inclusions. (Note: hotel lunches, all dinners, all alcohol are not included)
Terms:
- There must be a minimum of 10 participants on The Tour. If fewer, it will be re-priced; the client may accept or cancel at no charge
- The Tour price and dates are firm, within the parameters of the Inclusions and set out above.
- The Booking Fee is non-refundable if a client cancels; it is refundable if Louise Nicholson cancels The Tour, or the price increases
- Payment of The Tour full cost is by January 1, 2013. Each client will be invoiced. Clients are welcome to make full payment as
early as they wish. If paying in currencies other than USD, the rate of exchange should be the date of payment.
- Cancellation charges per person: up to January 1, 2013, nil; from January 1 to March 8, 2013, 50% of twin-sharing tour cost; after
March 8. 2-13, 100% of twin-sharing tour cost.
- No insurance is included. We strongly advise participants to consider cover for health, luggage, personal possessions, trip or flight
cancellations/delays, and all tour-related needs
- Hotels and flights are booked in good faith; any changes we are obliged to make are beyond our control

EDWIN LUTYENS AND NEW DELHI
- AN IDEAL GARDEN CITY
An in-depth visit to the 20 th century’s finest planned city
With Louise Nicholson and Candia Lutyens
Saturday March 9 – Saturday March 16, 2013
BOOKING FORM
Please complete and send with your Booking Fee to:
Louise Nicholson, 135 East 54 th Street, #15K, New York, NY 10022, USA
Personal information:
NAME(S) as on passport ……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Address………………………………………………………..……………………………………………..
Telephone (day) …………………….. (evening) ……………………. (cell) …...…………………………
E-mail address (s) ……………………………………………………………………………………………
The Tour:
Please reserve: Twin-sharing place/s in double room ………….. Single places …………………….
Where possible I would prefer a) a double bed …………… b) twin beds …………………….
I am single but, if the option arises, would be happy to share throughout The Tour …..………………….
Upgrades: Please send me the full list of optional hotel upgrades ……………………………….. .…….....
I would like to discuss other ways of extending my trip at the start/end of The Tour ………………………
I enclose the non-refundable Booking Fee of $1,000 per person to confirm my/our places, total $...……….
(If you wish to pay in sterling or by bank transfer, please ask for details)
I agree to the Conditions and Terms as set out above
Signed ………………………………………………….. Date ……………………………….