Red and white are the dominant colours in the opulent drawing room on the first floor

Imagine a massive ancient banyan tree, sprawling gardens, marble fountains and sculptures and you have the home of industrialist L.N. Bangur and his wife Alka. This imposing Calcutta residence was built by Bangur’s grandfather, Ramkumar, back in 1936 on a nine bigha plot near the Ganges and has the stamp of a bygone era both inside and out.

For Alka, her biggest pride is the banyan tree which dominates a stretch of the lawns. “The tree is the second oldest tree in the city (the oldest one is at the Botanical Gardens). It’s got innumerable offshoots and we just let it grow,” she says as she saunters with a visitor through the garden, pointing out its highlights.

The Bangur House is a mansion complete with circular driveway, and a garden with a fountain; (below) the terrace on top of the portico offers a view of the greenery beyond

A sweeping driveway leads to the two-storied Bangur House as it is known. The garden, entered through a massive sandstone gateway, stretches to the left of the house and is dotted with sculptures and fountains and a vast mix of shrubbery and plants that have fetched Alka, known for her green thumb, a string of awards.

There are towering pine trees, bottlebrush, orchids, cacti and palms. The family takes full advantage of the garden — specially in winter time. “We sit out in the winter and have our breakfast,” says Alka.

Other features include a plant nursery and a coffee house with a glass roof where the family sometimes takes morning coffee. There’s also a tennis court nearby and a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.

The house, entered through a portico, boasts a covered verandah, clad in marble and lit up at night by richly ornamental chandeliers. There you catch a glimpse of the household deity before entering the drawing room, which is filled with sink-into sofas and lined with wooden panels on which hang old Tanjore paintings.

(From top) Alka Bangur perches on a marble bench in her garden; old paintings add to the charm of the formal drawing room on the ground floor

This room too is lit by chandeliers, adding to the traditional old world charm of the home that has entertained many high-profile guests like Shilpa Shetty, Sonali Bendre and Shatrughan Sinha.

Next door to the drawing room is a gym, an office used by L.N. Bangur and a meeting room decorated by four of Alka’s oil paintings. The room has a 10-seater teak table and is often used for meetings and conferences.

From here we move up to the first floor and step into a long, sunny verandah which opens out into a little terrace over the portico which looks out onto the front lawn and the fountain in the middle. “I spend time here meditating in the mornings. It’s very soothing”, says Alka.

From the corridor we enter a large, opulent drawing room, dominated by reds and whites and which the family uses for informal get togethers. There are three comfortable sofa sets, arranged in different parts of the room, marble floors and delicate Belgian chandeliers to spread light everywhere. There are several large Tanjores on the walls.

You can’t miss the antique silver bed in Alka’s son’s bedroom

Next door is the dining room and an open kitchen. The Bangurs have an unusual 14-seater, U-shaped dining table, used when they are all at home (LN and his two sons spend a lot of time in Hyderabad where they have extensive business interests. Alka is also the director of four tea estate companies in south India).

Heading back to the corridor, we enter a bedroom used by Alka’s elder son Shreeyash and his family when they are in Calcutta. The piece de resistance here is the beautifully carved silver bed which Alka and her son are very proud of. All around the room there are silver objects. There’s also an aquarium near a small seating area.

A silver hookah occupies pride of place in one of the bedrooms

Alka’s own bedroom is done up in soothing tones of white and peach. The lighting is subdued and there’s a sofa set on one side of the large room.

On the way out Alka shows us her own office on the ground floor which is used for formal meetings. The décor here was put together by her friend Anju Shah (the wife of Viren J. Shah, the former governor of Bengal) and is simple and functional.

Alka’s a director in several companies and she also does extensive charity work — she’s working to provide computer education for young girls and tubewells to villagers in Rajasthan. She recently won an award, the Rashtriya Sevaratna Samman for her charitable work.

The fact is that Alka and her family have resisted the temptation to modernise or re-decorate their home too much. After all, this is a stately mansion filled with priceless possessions that makes its own statement.