Dera Ismail Khan’s 130-year-old historic and tallest ‘seven-storey’ haveli is very famous for its architectural style.
It is located in Mujahid Nagar street of famous Bhatia Bazar in Choglia.
When the new city of Dera Ismail Khan was founded in 1825, the Bhatia family chose a separate neighborhood in the western part of the city and built luxurious buildings there.
This mansion is a part of the same constructions that the Hindu Seth Jesa Ram Bhatia (Jesa Ramlotha) had built for his residence around 1890.
Jesa Ram Seth was born in the family of Nanduram Bhatia. The business of this family spread to big cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Kanpur, Amritsar etc.
Before the partition, this mansion was called by different names like Sat Maara, Dariya Wali Maari and Sat Manzla etc.
However, with the passage of time, this mansion was surrounded by dense population and houses. Now to reach here one has to pass through narrow and dark streets.
The seven-storied mansion is losing its appeal due to its dense population and fails to attract tourists, which can be gauged from the fact that even the locals are unaware of it.
However, once one hears about this mansion, one definitely wants to see it.
After the partition of India, Haji Hayat bought this mansion for 45 thousand rupees and later rented it out.
In 1994, the tenants left, but by then the condition of the mansion had deteriorated. It cost Rs 35 to 40 lakhs to renovate it.
This mansion attracts people because of its beautiful and old-style architecture.
Stepping inside the mansion, you feel yourself going back a hundred years as the meticulous work done on the doors and windows with diar and shesham wood amazes you.
A long staircase built on a pillar, which leads to the last and seventh floor, looks amazing.
Jesa Ramlotha built a temple in a room on the third floor of it and which is still there in this room.
Dr. Nauman Hayat, the resident of the mansion, lives in this room today, but the idols are no longer there.
Dr Nauman’s family has so far spent crores of rupees on the restoration of this historic building.
As Ramlotha built this temple in such a way that morning sunlight goes directly to the temple built in the room.
The rooms are well ventilated while the invisible skylights in the lower floor rooms provide fresh air and light.
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The entire city can be seen from the seventh floor of the mansion, but this floor is now in a dilapidated condition.
Noman Hayat is trying to make it safe but it is an expensive job and he seems unable to save the last floor as it is made of precious wood like diar and shisham.
It is a huge and difficult task to preserve the skill and precision with which this work has been done.
Provincial Minister Faisal Amin Khan, along with Nauman Hayat and the Archeology Department are making efforts to make the building safe, but the work has not yet started.
#historic #sevenstoried #mansion #Dera #Ismail #Khan
2024-07-23 15:22:57
