Dunlop House being demolished brick by brick. Picture by Raoul Ghosh

Located prominently opposite Karnani Mansion at the head of Royd Street, Dunlop House at 57B, Mirza Ghalib Street, is still one of the best-known office buildings of Calcutta. But the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) in its wisdom has not included it in its highly inadequate, vague (some entries have no addresses) and erratic list of 1,365 heritage structures of the city. But then, it had also left out the Bishop?s Palace on Chowringhee from the list, and had there not been a public outcry, a highrise would have come up by now in its place. There are many more glaring omissions.

?Isn?t it a heritage building? I thought it was,? mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya told Metro on Wednesday evening.

According to Nilina Deblal, in her Intach handbook on the city?s built heritage, Dunlop House is a grade-B building of considerable historical and architectural significance constructed in the 1920s.

Unfortunately, few, save the people of the neighbourhood, are aware that Dunlop House is coming down, and the block next to Ripon Street that housed the trade union office has already been razed. This is not visible from outside because the compound is walled off with old tin sheets. The demolition squad began their job almost two weeks ago and the debris is cleared in trucks in the dead of the night.

The red CITU flag still flutters in front of the entrance but the Dunlop India workers who used to crowd around it have all gone. They used to cook food inside and sell it outside the gate. They cannot be seen any longer.

The main building has not been left untouched either. The clock at the Ripon Street corner of the building was removed some time ago. The letters ?u? and ?l? are missing from the brand name Dunlop and the logo has been effaced (encircled in picture above). The roofs of the outhouses on the terrace have been torn off.

Machinery from the lift shaft lies on the terrace, along with rubble. Dunlop House has been neglected since the time Manu Chhabria had taken it over but now it is being done to death. The Dunlop sales office on the opposite pavement was destroyed in a fire.

Pawan Ruia has taken over Dunlop to reopen its Sahagunje factory, but he is not the owner of its headquarters on Mirza Ghalib Street. It belongs to the Pataka group, which paid Rs 10.75 crore to acquire it. However, Ruia is keen on getting back Dunlop House, which he has described as a ?heritage building.?

Mustak Hossain, who owns Pataka Industries which makes Pataka bidis, intends to build a shopping mall on this site. But till recently, he was not in possession of the property. The Dunlop trade union was against it and had gone to court over the issue. The Rs 10.75 crore was lying in an escrow account. It is also not clear who is in possession of the building. Dunlop House could disappear nonetheless.