Shivratan Chandraratan Mohatta was a Hindu Marwari businessman, who traced his roots in Bikaner, Rajasthan, his recorded ancestry began with Motilal Mohata (spelled Mohatta in English), who migrated in 1842 from Bikaner to Hyderabad (in Telangana, India) to become a clerk in a shop. His four children migrated to Calcutta and became leading merchants of imported cloth. One of them, Govardhan Mohta, moved to Karachi in 1883. His older son, Ramgopal, became a scholar and author. Karachi's Hindu Gymkhana building, officially known as the Seth Ramgopal Goverdhandas Mohatta Hindu Gymkhana was named after this son. Govardhan Mohta's younger son Shivrattan became an industrialist in Karachi, and made his fortune from the manufacturing of palm olive soap.
The palace has an area of 18,500 sq ft (1,720 m2) and its facade is trimmed with windows, stone brackets, spandrels, domes, balustrades with floral motifs and exquisite railings. There are nine domes, with a centre dome in the middle; while the windows in the front portion opening out into the garden are of blue colour and those in the rear area are arched windows with stained glass. The palace has large stately rooms designed for entertainment on the ground floor and more private facilities on the first floor, where there is a terrace provided with a shade from intense sunlight. The palace is solely made up of teak wood with a polished staircase, long corridors and doors opening within doors. The "barsati” (terrace) of the Mohatta Palace had a beautiful family temple dedicated to the Hindu God, lord Shiva. The amalgam gave the palace a distinctive presence in an elegant neighbourhood, characterised by Indo-Saracenic architecture which was located not far from the sea.
Mohatta Palace was a luxurious home built in the late 1920s, consisting of 18,500 sq ft (1,720 m2). The elegant palace is built on different levels and was a summer house for the Mohatta family for two decades before they left for India in 1947. There are three levels, basement, ground floor, first floor till you reach the roof. The basement that lies on the north side of the building is quite small and comprises a staircase going downwards towards a hot water pool chamber which has a connected changing room. They say it had a hot and cold water system attached, which would supply the water to the pool. Near the pool chamber are small ventilators, two on each side which may have been used as a source of sunlight and letting out steam.
Upon stepping inside the building is a corridor that connects to each room situated on the ground floor. The ground floor contains large stately rooms designed for entertainment, two towards the right side of the entrance (north), two towards the left (south) and one at the back. The movement inside the building is through the great entrance into a spacious corridor that runs around a huge hall with ornate ceilings and a staircase on the South side. There is a large square hall with seven openings leading into a corridor. The hall acts as a datum and around it the corridors are connected to the rooms where different activities are held. On the south between the two rooms is a solid teak wood, polished staircase connecting ground floor and first floor. On each corner of the palace are octagonal towers, in which only two near the front entrance have spiral staircases that go up to the roof. At the far end, opposite the entrance is a room for entertainment which has few stairs on each side leading directly into the grounds at the back of the palace.
When viewed from outside, the ground floor has two very ornate windows on either side of the entrance consisting of three shutters in each. The same windows are on the north and south side as well, on either side of the stairs which lead from the rooms to the grounds. The octagonal towers have five windows each. In the same way there is a protruding chhajja which goes all around the ground floor to provide shade. The first floor has private facilities unlike the ground floor. Although this floor also has a large hall in the centre having ten doors that open into the corridor that frames it on two sides (north and south) and private rooms on the other sides (east and west). There are four large bedrooms with attached restrooms and dressing rooms. Each bedroom has two openings, more like ‘doors opening into doors’. The staircase on the south ends on this floor, leaving a passageway to the left which connects to the octagonal tower staircase that leads up to the roof. There is a similar staircase on the opposite end which leads up to the roof. Whereas the remaining two towers remain disconnected, just giving an outdoor view from the windows to each floor. Similarly, there are windows situated right above the ones on the ground floor giving a view of the vast grounds below. Also, there are three openings into the large terrace on the first floor, which overlooks the Arabian Sea. Moreover, the roof top is perhaps the most interesting part of the building, giving an aerial view of the surrounding neighbourhood and the beautiful landscaping done in below. The rooftop is connected by staircases coming all the way up from the ground floor, through the frontal north and south octagonal towers. The four octagonal towers are topped by chattris. In the middle of the towers, on both of the north and south side are dainty three portioned, rectangular chattris. Altogether there are nine domes, with a centre dome in the middle and smaller four domes around it. This is slightly elevated and is like a room overlooking the rooftop. It has stairs on the north and south side and the five domes are interconnected.
First Name: Last Name:
Full Name: Contact No:
Email Address:
C.N.I.C No: Passport No:
Home Address:
Current Address:
Please select your gender: Male: Female: Custom:
