Preserving Heritage Homes: Pillars of Tradition amid Urban Transformation

On Instagram, one can find numerous accounts documenting the heritage of Indian cities. Pages like Beyond Heritage and Calcutta Houses serve as digital archives, providing insights about forgotten structures, built traditions, and the stories of urban communities.

This is significant in light of the challenges faced by heritage homes amid rapid urbanization. Centuries-old structures have been affected by the climate crisis. Frequent rains, humidity, and extreme temperatures are damaging traditional sandstone homes in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. Heritage buildings also suffer from encroaching redevelopment and a lack of comprehensive conservation policies.

Initiatives like “Make It Happen” in Goa are preserving heritage by helping residence owners host tourists in their ancestral homes. While visitors get to learn about the memories attached to these homes, the revenue generated is partially utilized for their upkeep. In Shillong, Emica Nongkynrih preserved her family’s 140-year-old home by turning it into ‘Nirala Homes.’ She now repays the house restoration loan through the homestay earnings and PMEGP scheme subsidy.

This year, Airbnb signed an MoU with the Ministry of Tourism to promote heritage homestays through the ‘Soul of India' microsite featuring heritage homes. Such initiatives may revive depopulated towns such as those in Gujarat, which were once thriving centers for the Parsi community. Airbnbs have been mushrooming around Navsari, but many older residents in Udvada are not in favor of their hometown's commercialization. Echoing this sentiment, Udvada's Mahrukh Rabadi prefers living by herself in her 150-year-old house.

While some heritage homes find hope in homestays, the question of sharing responsibility for their preservation remains. Maintaining them is up to the private owners, but tedious permissions and limited funds hinder this. However, heritage homes embody a city’s collective history, for which they require sustained efforts from the larger community.

Have you spotted heritage homes in your city? How are these historic treasures being preserved?