The District Collector Office Visakhapatnam (History, Location and Images)

Collector Office Vizag Images

The Collectorate, or Collector’s Office, in Visakhapatnam is a legacy, a relic of a long-gone empire.

The flamboyant E-shaped Collector’s-Office building in Maharanipeta, Visakhapatnam, appears to have been strategically planned to symbolically represent the physical realm of the British Empire in all its glory and authority when viewed from above.

History of The Collectorate of Visakhapatnam

Messrs. Gyanan and Dunckerly Company – the Engineering and Construction company from the empire’s British Isles – designed and built the sprawling Gothic-style castle, which featured buttressed porches, turrets, and even a crenellated parapet literally serving as the icing on the cake-of-circular-turret covering all three floors of the porch along its outer corner. The structure was finished in 1914 after a nearly half-century of labour, with construction beginning in 1865, it was most likely built in stages.

The building was completed in 1914 and was the result of nearly a half-century of labour, with construction beginning in 1865; most likely, it was built in stages.

Architecture of The Collectorate of Visakhapatnam

Its design and structure can be found in any book about classic European architecture: Huge courtyards, majestic corridors on either side of the building, with absolute symmetry in both the first and ground floors, almost all types of vintage stair-cases – bifurcated, dog-leg, and circular, semi-circular arches, huge windows, and big and grand rooms are all part of this structure.

While majestic square-pavilions – each with three square turrets – can be found at each of the building’s corners, the portico in the main-block stands out above all: The building is three stories tall, with open arches on the ground floor and rooms on the first and second floors. A pyramidal roof adorns the top of the circular turret, lending it a sense of authority.

Facts of The Collectorate of Visakhapatnam

• Late Dr. Abid Hussain, who served as District Collector from 1964 to 1968 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan award and was an ex-Indian-Ambassador to the United States. He adored Visakhapatnam so much that he named his daughter Visakha after the city.
• Many significant decisions were made in this building that altered the landscape of this region, the most important of which was the policy for land acquisition for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and the rehabilitation of displaced people.
• Even Sri Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, camped on the premises and oversaw the relief efforts after the devastating Hudhud Cyclone.
• During the 1920s, the notorious British Collector Rutherford devised a plan to apprehend and assassinate Alluri Seetharamaraju, a reputed revolutionary from this part of the country.

Location Map for District Collector Office Visakhapatnam