King George Hall turns 100
On 16 January 2015, King George Hall in Robertsonpet completed a hundred years since Mr. Arthur Enfield Taylor declared it open in 1915.
On 16 January 2015, King George Hall in Robertsonpet completed 100 years. The hall was opened on 16 January 1915 by Mr. Arthur Enfield Taylor, and the words above its main arch still record it: Opened by Mr. Arthur Enfield Taylor, Jan-16-1915.
Foundation stone
11 December 1911
Opened
16 January 1915
Opened by
Mr. Arthur Enfield Taylor
Centenary
16 January 2015
A town hall for Robertsonpet
The foundation stone was laid on 11 December 1911, the year of the Delhi Durbar, which the hall was raised to commemorate. Building took about three years. It was designed in the Victorian style, on the lines of the town halls of Britain, with deep canopies and arches, and a large garden and lawns around it.
Named after King George, the hall became the venue for many of the cultural, literary and social functions of the town.
The club inside the hall
The King George Hall Cosmopolitan Club was started on the same lines as the KGF Club at Oorgaum. From the beginning it offered tennis, badminton, billiards, snooker, cards and carrom, along with a library and reading room, a lounge and a bar. Many of Robertsonpet’s old timers are still members.
Kept standing by its members
The century was not always kind to the grounds. The gardens and lawns were allowed to run down, and more than once there were attempts to take over the land and the building for a commercial complex. Each time, the members of the Club stood against it, and the Club carried on in the hall.
On 11 December 2011, the centenary of the laying of the foundation stone, a new public park developed around the hall was set to be opened by Sri Jyothi Roy IPS, Superintendent of Police, KGF, with Sri Manoj Kumar Meena IAS, Deputy Commissioner of Kolar and President of the KGF Cosmopolitan Club, presiding.
A hundred years on, the hall still stands at the centre of Robertsonpet, and the Club still meets under its roof.
The hall today
Sources
Details of the foundation stone, the opening and the 2011 park are from Kolar Gold Fields: Nostalgia, shared again on the Kolar Gold Fields Down Memory Lane Facebook page on the centenary. The link to the Delhi Durbar is from Wikipedia. If you have photographs or memories of the hall, the Club would be glad to hear from you.