KMC clears 'adaptive reuse' plan for Jamini Roy museum dedicated to the painter
Telegraph | 30 November 2025
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has approved a proposal to convert Jamini Roy’s Ballygunge Place home into a museum dedicated to the painter.
The civic body’s mayoral council cleared the “adaptive reuse’’ plan on Wednesday, a KMC official said.
Roy moved into the three-storey house in 1949 from his rented Bagbazar residence and lived there until his death in 1972. Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), which acquired the building from Roy’s descendants, submitted the reuse blueprint to the KMC outlining how the 10,000sqft structure would be transformed.
Metro reported in March 2023 the intention to convert the house into a museum and cultural resource centre focused on Roy’s life, work and era.
A DAG official said on Saturday: “A permanent museum on Roy will be set up on the ground floor. The first floor will host exhibitions. The second floor will be used for workshops and performances, and a café is planned for the terrace.”
DAG approached the KMC’s heritage conservation committee with the proposal in February. The committee approved the reuse on account of the building’s “rich history and association with Jamini Roy”.
A member of the heritage conservation committee said: “A residential structure is not usually allowed to be converted into a place of assembly, but this was an exception. Turning the space where Roy lived and worked for so many years into a museum on him is a wonderful idea.”
With the mayoral council’s approval in place, DAG will still require clearances from the KMC’s building department and the state fire services directorate. Converting a residential building into one meant for public assembly is likely to require additional safety measures.
Art historian Tapati Guha Thakurta said Roy was already a well-established artist when he moved into the Ballygunge home.
“Very few homes of artists and scholars have been preserved in Calcutta. Not many artists managed to build a large home like Roy because many were not well off,” she said.
Roy’s stature, she added, was exceptional. “He was one of the most iconic artists in terms of range, popularity and sales. He was a modern artist who became part of a mass production team. In Ballygunge, he worked in a workshop module. At least one of his sons and teams of people worked with him to produce works.”
When Roy shifted to Ballygunge, the area was still called Dihi Serampore and was beginning to develop.
“Roy was part of a milieu of artists, writers and filmmakers who moved into south Calcutta in the 1940s and 50s. Uttam Kumar was there, Soumitra Chatterjee and Satyajit Ray lived on Lake Temple Road, Debabrata Biswas was there. They shared a common intellectual milieu,” said Guha Thakurta.
If all regulatory approvals arrive on time, DAG hopes to open the museum on Poila Boishakh.
“The Bengali New Year was a major celebration at Jamini Roy’s home. Scores of people used to visit. If possible, we would like to open it on that day,” a DAG official said.
The KMC’s heritage conservation committee has also recommended that Roy’s Ballygunge Place home be listed as a Grade IIB heritage structure. A committee member noted that it had not been listed earlier.
In a Grade IIB structure, “horizontal and vertical addition and alteration of the building may be allowed in compatibility with the heritage building.”