DTTDC requests MCD for heritage building’s blueprints

The Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) has initiated the survey and is in the process of hiring an agency for the conservation and redevelopment of the 160-year-old Town Hall building in Chandni Chowk.

According to officials, the DTTDC has requested the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to provide structural blueprints and layout plans of the historic building, which is classified as a Grade-A heritage structure, for its redevelopment into a Global Heritage Centre.

The DTTDC’s Project Monitoring Unit is preparing a concept plan, detailed drawings, a detailed project report (DPR) and tender documents for the project, officials said.

In a letter to MCD’s Deputy Commissioner (City-SP Zone) on June 1, the DTTDC requested the civic body’s departments concerned to provide the existing structural blueprints, floor layouts, elevation drawings, maps, and any other relevant historical or technical documents of the town hall premises.

The project to turn the iconic building into a Global Heritage Centre was announced in the 2026-27 Delhi budget and has the support of the central government.

The civic body has ownership and administrative control of the 19th-century landmark. The DTTDC said access to original records is essential for structural retrofitting and adaptive interior redesign without compromising the building’s historical integrity.

Constructed between 1861 and 1866, the building served as an education hub and a centre for British civic administration before independence. It later became the city’s municipal headquarters. It continued to function as the civic body’s main office until 2012, after which it remained largely vacant and in a dilapidated condition.

In April 2026, Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta visited the historic Record Room in the building and underlined the need to digitise legislative archives to preserve India’s democratic and administrative heritage.

The Record Room houses a vast collection of official proceedings’ records, budgets and administrative documents dating back to 1880, including rare archival material linked to municipal governance.

Earlier, in 2018, the erstwhile North Delhi Municipal Corporation had proposed a heritage hotel, but the plan did not materialise. In December 2022, the MCD shifted the town hall library to the Civic Centre’s third floor. The central government had also expressed interest in taking over the heritage site on a lease to develop a museum, library and recreation centre, but that plan was also stalled.