View source for Bhai Ram Singh

{{Short description|Architect from Punjab}}{{EngvarB|date=April 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Infobox architect
| name = {{Small|{{Nobold|Bhai}}}}<br>Ram Singh
| image = File:Rudolf Swoboda (1859-1914) - Bhai Ram Singh - RCIN 403750 - Royal Collection.jpg
| image_size = 
| alt = 
| caption = Bhai Ram Singh by [[Rudolf Swoboda]], 1892, [[Osborne House]]
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1857
| birth_place = [[Rasulpur]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = 1916
| death_place = [[Lahore]], Punjab, British India
| alma_mater = [[National College of Arts|Mayo School of Industrial Arts]]
| spouse = 
| partner = 
| children = 
| parents = 
| awards = 
| practice = 
| significant_buildings = [[Aitchison College]]<br>[[Lahore Museum]]<br>[[University of the Punjab]]
| significant_projects = 
| significant_design = 
| signature = 
}}
'''Bhai Ram Singh''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MVO}} (1858–1916) was one of pre-partition [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]]'s foremost [[architect]]s, dominating the scene for nearly two decades from the 1890s.<ref name="The Sunday Tribune - Books">[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061112/spectrum/book1.htm The Sunday Tribune - Books<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Amongst his works is the Durbar Room, [[Osborne House]], on the [[Isle of Wight]], England; [[Lahore Museum]] and Governor's House in Simla.

Amongst Bhai Ram Singh's most famous works are: the Lahore Museum, the [[National College of Arts|Mayo School of Arts]], [[Aitchison College]], [[Chamba House, Lahore| Chamba House]] and [[University of the Punjab|Punjab University]], all in [[Lahore]], and [[Islamia College, Peshawar]].<ref name="The Sunday Tribune - Books"/>  In [[Shimla|Simla]], the Governor’s House and in Lyallpur (now [[Faisalabad]]),  the College of Agriculture.<ref name="The Sunday Tribune - Books"/>  He also worked with [[John Lockwood Kipling]] to design the Durbar room in [[Osborne House]], Queen Victoria's summer home on the Isle of Wight.<ref>RC; {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130122133529/http://www.englishheritageprints.com/pictures_464500/bhai-ram-singh-k010289.html Bhai Ram Singh working in Durbar Room]}} English Heritage Prints. Retrieved 13 March 2011</ref> He designed [[Khalsa College, Amritsar]].

Most of his work fits under the style of [[Indo-Saracenic architecture]], of which he was the most significant Indian architect.  Many of his commissions were built by the leading contractor Sir [[Ganga Ram]], and also involved [[Lockwood Kipling]], father of [[Rudyard Kipling]], to some extent Singh's mentor.  The precise contributions of these can be hard to estimate; Ram was mainly an engineer and contractor, but is sometimes given credit as the architect of his buildings.

==Biography==
Singh came from Ramgarhia [[Sikh]] family of [[Rasulpur]], near [[Batala]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]], and showed early talent.<ref name="ReferenceA">RC</ref> He is supposed to have repaired the piano of the Deputy Commissioner of [[Amritsar]] when he was 13, despite being unfamiliar with the instrument.  He became a student at the Mayo School of Arts (now [[National College of Arts]]), in [[Lahore]],<ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061103/jplus1.htm The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Jalandhar Plus<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> founded in 1875, and became a protege of the principal [[Lockwood Kipling]], father of [[Rudyard Kipling]].  He became assistant drawing master at the school, and eventually, its principal from 1903 to 1913, as well as designing its building.<ref>Ali, S. Amjad ''Painters of Pakistan'' Islamabad: National book Foundation 1995 pg 34</ref>
[[File:Ram_Singh_architect.jpg|thumb|left]]
In 1885-7 he worked with Kipling, decorating the "Indian Passage" and ballroom at [[Bagshot Park]] for the [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|Duke of Connaught]], Queen Victoria's third son, who he had met in India when the duke was Commander-in-Chief of the [[Bombay Army]] from December 1886 to March 1890.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ| last=India Office| title=The India List and India Office List| year=1819| publisher=Harrison| location=London| accessdate=7 July 2013}}</ref>  This led to the Osborne House commission, and other work in Britain.  [[Queen Victoria]] met him when he was working at Osborne in January 1891 and her diaries describe him as "a very intelligent, pleasant, nice man, a Seikh [sp. 'Sikh']; we looked at sketches he had made for the decoration of the room".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>  He became Principal of Mayo School of Arts in 1910 and the following year he was made an MVO (Member of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] by [[King George V]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He retired in 1913 and died in Lahore, three year later in 1916 aged 58.
[[File:Bhai Ram Singh.jpg|thumb|Bhai Ram Singh]]
<gallery widths="170px" heights="200px">
File:Close view of Lahore Museum.jpg|[[Lahore Museum]], begun 1890
File:Front elevation, Aitchison College.jpg|[[Aitchison College]], begun 1886
File:National College of Arts in Lahore.jpg|[[National College of Arts]] (Mayo School), [[Lahore]]
File:Islamia College Peshawar mosque interior.jpg|The mosque, [[Islamia College, Peshawar]], 1913
File:Chamba House, Lahore.JPG|Chamba House, Lahore

</gallery>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*"RC": [https://www.rct.uk/collection/403750/bhai-ram-singh short biography], [[Royal Collection]]
*Singh, Amrik,  [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061112/spectrum/book1.htm "The forgotten master"] ''The Tribune'', India 2006. Retrieved 9 December 2020

==Further reading==
* ''The Raj, Lahore and Bhai Ram Singh'', by Pervaiz Vandal and Sajida Vandal, Lahore: National College of Arts, 2006.

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Bhai Ram}}
[[Category:Punjabi Sikhs]]
[[Category:National College of Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Principals of the National College of Arts]]
[[Category:Indian Members of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Architects from British India]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian architects]]
[[Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)]]
[[Category:Artists from Lahore]]
[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:Architects from Lahore]]