The Ray ancestral home. A Telegraph picture

A sum of between Rs 17 lakh and Rs 18 lakh can save Atheneum Institution at 100A, Garpar Road, in Maniktala, from the clutches of promoters.

This two-storeyed building was constructed by Upendrakishore Raychowdhury in 1914. His son, Sukumar Ray, had written his book of nonsense verse, Abol Tabol, here and he also used to bring out the children?s magazine Sandesh from this house, where some of best-known and loved literary and cultural figures of Bengal were brought up.

His son Satyajit was born here and spent his early childhood in this building. Author Lila Majumdar, too, lived here.

It used to have the legend U. Ray & Sons written on its facade, as Upendrakishore?s printing press was housed on its ground floor. This was replaced by the name of the school after it rented the building and moved into it in 1931.

Following Sukumar Ray?s death, at a time when the Rays faced a financial crisis, the house, on seven cottahs, and the adjoining nine cottahs were bought in the 1920s by Baidya Nath Mallick.

In 2000, the Calcutta Municipal Corporation had declared it as a heritage structure, but promoters have been eyeing the vacant plot for some time. Manoranjan Swar, headmaster of Atheneum Institution, is against this as the survival of his school, with 700 students, is at stake.

Last year, then owner of the building, Mahamaya Sen, who was Mallick?s sister, had agreed to surrender her ownership claims to the school in return for Rs 25 lakh. Swar says for the past year, the landlord has not been accepting the rent and so it is paid at the rent control office.

Mahamaya Sen died about a month ago and now her two sons, Rabindranath and Prabindranath, have taken over. It is said they have scaled down their demand to Rs 17-18 lakh.

The condition of the 17-room building has been deteriorating, meanwhile. Earlier, the ground floor housed a hosiery goods factory. Now, it is a cardboard factory and the smoke and noise it generates makes things difficult for the students, Swar claims. He pointed to the cracked floor and said it was caused by the pounding beneath.

A court case has complicated matters. The chief justice of the high court has himself filed a suo motu case, involving the state, Calcutta Municipal Corporation and the state heritage commission to protect the heritage building. Till this is settled the matter is sub judice.

Swar can raise Rs 3.5 lakh. Where will the rest come from?