A unique Indo-Saracen-styled home, built in the early part of the 1900s and lovingly restored as a modern boutique bed & breakfast, The Shumshere welcomes its guests to experience a lifestyle lost to the 20th century.
As the years of the British Raj peaked, Dehradun was selected as the site for a magnificent building, The Forest Research Institute. One of the lead contractors of this project, Rai Bahadur Narain Singh, embarked on building a home for his family during the construction phase of the FRI.
Narain Singh, honoured by the British with a title of Rai Bahadur for his contribution to the building of a new India, made The Shumshere his home. Years later, the family moved to New Delhi, the site of the new capital city of Imperial India.
Among the works undertaken by him in New Delhi, The Imperial Hotel, the Western and Eastern Courts, the foundations for the Viceregal Lodge (now Rashtrapati Bhavan), and the Lady Hardinge College stand out.
The Shumshere upholds this legacy in Dehradun, where it has been restored to serve as a boutique guesthouse.
A plush living room, a stately dining hall, a terrace overlooking Mussoorie, and gardens that envelop the property all help make The Shumshere a wondrous oasis in Dehradun.
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The Shumshere was built during the construction phase (1922-1929) of the stunning Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, one of the largest exposed brick buildings in Asia at the foothills of the Himalayas.
While the FRI was constructed in the Greco-Roman style, planned by the architect C.G. Bloomfield, The Shumshere’s architecture follows the principles of Indo-Saracenic, with pointed arches, verandahs and castle-like turrets. The architects toyed with an idea that was being vastly experimented at the time and the end result was breathtaking. It drew stylistic and decorative elements from Indo-Islamic architecture, while the basic layout and structure of the building referred to contemporary buildings in other styles, such as Gothic revival and Neo-Classical.
With seven stately suites, a living area and dining room, a courtyard, and gardens, the castle-like building in Dalanwala, away from the bustling main road and nestled in the midst of lush gardens, offers a quiet getaway for guests to experience an old regal lifestyle.
With antiques spanning generations, our guests are guaranteed an experiential stay delving into the Raj-era, a veritable time machine functioning as a homestay.
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