House in the Sakar Bag, Junagadh

Photograph of a house in the Sakar Bagh at Junagadh in Gujarat, taken by the travelling commercial photographer F. Nelson in the 1890s from the Lee-Warner Collection: 'Photographs of Junagadh'. The Sakar Bagh is situated three and a half kilometres (two miles) north of Junagadh and is one of several public gardens in the environs of the city. Its design and creation is attributed to Nawab Mahabat Khan II (r.1851-1882), who developed and improved Junagadh with a series of new palaces, public buildings and parks. In addition to formal gardens the Sakar Bagh contained a zoo, established in 1863 and renowned today for the successful breeding of Asiatic lions found in the nearby Gir Forest, and several private houses. This is a view of a house built in an Anglo-Indian style with an external spiral staircase over the porch, probably inspired by a similar structure on the Nawab’s palace.