Raj Bhavan will be yellow and green again. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

In a city where heritage buildings like the Town Hall and the natmandir of Shovabazar Rajbati have been “restored” with cement, Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi is setting an example on how old buildings should be refurbished by getting the existing cement plaster of Raj Bhavan stripped and replacing it with lime-and-sand plaster.

Told that it could be a landmark in restoration in Calcutta, Gandhi on Friday ruled out any such “grandiose” gesture, and added that during the annual maintenance work it was discovered that beneath the overlay of plaster were blisters that needed to be scraped.

In many places the peeling exposed the brickwork. To do things “right” the heritage commission was consulted and lime-and-sand plaster was recommended. Getting supplies of high-quality lime was not an easy task but it was “not costlier” than cement, said Gandhi.

Raj Bhavan will also get a new colour scheme. Instead of white, it will revert to the old yellow and green, Gandhi said.

The public works department (PWD), which is in charge of the upkeep of Raj Bhavan, had sent the plaster to the state archaeology department to find out its composition — lime and sand in a 1:2 ratio, according to highly-placed PWD sources. The restoration work started more than a month ago. However, cement-based paint will be used this time too.

The structure was constructed between 1799 and 1803 when Marquis Wellesley was the governor general. Known as Government House then, this grand building was Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, the ancestral seat of Lord Curzon, translated into brick and mortar. It was renamed Raj Bhavan after Independence.

Lord Charles Bruce, chairman, the Calcutta Scottish Heritage Trust, who is here to supervise the future restoration of the Scottish cemetery in Karaya, was all praise for the Governor’s initiative.

In Calcutta on a programme organised by the British Council, Lord Bruce said on Friday afternoon: “The Governor is making a major statement” on how buildings should be restored, for “that is the only way you can do it.”

“Calcutta is as important as Venice,” he stressed. Work on the cemetery would be done in phases, and now it was time to start a fundraising campaign. The cost estimate was not ready yet, but one can gauge it from the £ 25,000 bill run up in the 1980s to restore the South Park Street cemetery. No deadline was set as funds were coming in spurts.

He stressed the importance of using lime plaster for restoration and he planned to “reintroduce old skills” by training artisans and masons. This had been done in Venice too and it would be an “open laboratory” for honing traditional skills. His family had opened the Scottish Lime Centre. Recording and listing old buildings by the state heritage commission was not enough. “You have to know how to restore them,” signed off Lord Bruce.