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| Startling colours of an exterior wall and window from a Margao house. |
Dream like, yet
elemental, Goan homes preside over a lush green paradise. The warm and humid climate
blurs the distinction between indoors and the outdoors. Shaping in response to the fecund
tropical conditions and long years of colonial rule, Goan domestic architecture is enriched by the European
experience, yet rooted deeply in the local culture.
Ranging from simple
mud houses, to grand mansions displaying an agglomeration of Mannerist,
Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic influences, Goan homes are a
palimpsest of architectural styles and influences.
In home after home,
one will encounter delightfully syncretic architecture and elaborate interiors that
blend pre-existing Hindu and Maratha motifs with European styles introduced by
the colonizing Portuguese in the 16th Century.
The broad elements of
Goan houses result form a mixture of Indian and Portuguese styles. Homes that
are Portuguese in origin are usually two-storeyed and façade oriented. Whereas
those of Indian origin are single-storeyed with a traditional courtyard based
orientation.
Between the two also,
there is wonderful mixing and marrying of ideas, resulting in nuanced, hybrid
architecture that is both impressive and inspiring- for example the
two-storeyed house in which the top story is functional while the ground floor
is merely ornamental. It was Portuguese custom to segregate the lower storey of
the house for the household staff and retainers. Since in the Hindu home the servant quarters were typically
located at the back of the house, this bottom storey became shorter, until it
reduced to an ornamental high-platform in time, adorned with decorative arches, pilasters and colonettes.
For a better
understanding of the Goan eclectic idiom of house building one may firstly,
look at ways in which the local population adopted styles and precedents set by
the Portuguese. And secondly, the ways in which the local identity asserted
itself in shaping and adapting the influences passed on by the colonial
masters.
As they grew in power
and rank within the Portuguese administration, the upper class Goan aristocrats
sought to emulate and even surpass the grandeur of the residences of their
Portuguese counterparts: The examples of this trend are many- The practice of building
grand staircases in the entrance halls, many windowed facades- like at the
Braganza home in Chandor- busts of classical Renaissance figures in the
pediments of façade windows, grand dance halls as a focal point of the home.
In an assertion of the
local Goan identity, the erection of a columned porch with seats built into its
two sides, called bollcaum, also became commonplace in the 19th
century. In time the bollcaum was extended to include the façade of the entire
house effectively screening it from rain and the hottest midday sun. Where on the one hand the covered porch
with built in seating confirmed to the Indian ideas of decorum, it did so by
extending the house into the public space- adapting to ` open-minded’ western
mores. It is an interesting vantage point to observe life go by the house, a
feature used frequently by the lady of the house.
Other interesting and
unique aspects of the houses one will encounter in the state are the use of
locally available building material such as laterite stone in place of brick
and lime plaster, which make for sturdy and durable structures. Additionally, in many homes, readily
available mother-of-pearl is used to line window shutters.
The window shutters
are particularly enchanting. The shiny iridescent patina of the shell lends luminosity
to the spaces that glass shutters – used to replace shell increasingly- are not
able to replicate.
Something has to be said about the bright colouring and
unabashed love for pigment here. In the early days of Portuguese rule,
only churches and other religious structures were permitted to use white to color
their exteriors. The domestic residential structures automatically adopted bold
and sensational colors subsequently achieved with the use of vegetable and
natural dyes in the past.
