4/5 Dr. Sanjib A. 5 months ago on Google • 496 reviews
The
New
Market,
formerly
known
as
Sir
Stuart
Hogg
Market,
is
a
market
in
Kolkata
situated
on
Lindsay
Street,
beside
Free
School
Street
(Mirza
Ghalib
Street/Rani
Rasmoni
Road).
Although
primarily
"New
Market"
referred
to
the
original
enclosed
market,
today
in
local
parlance,
the
entire
shopping
area
is
often
known
as
"New
Market"
Some
of
the
earliest
English
quarters
of
Calcutta
were
in
an
area
known
then
as
Dalhousie
Square.
Terretti
and
Lalbazar
nearby
were
the
customary
shopping
haunts
of
the
British.
Later
settlements
arose
in
Kashaitola,
Dharmatala
and
Chowringhee.
By
the
1850s,
British
colonists
held
sway
in
Calcutta
and
displayed
increasing
contempt
for
the
"natives"
and
an
aversion
to
brushing
shoulders
with
them
at
the
bazaars.
In
1871,
moved
by
a
well
orchestrated
outcry
from
English
residents,
a
committee
of
the
Calcutta
Corporation
began
to
contemplate
a
market
which
would
be
the
preserve
of
Calcutta's
British
residents.
Spurred
by
the
committee's
deliberations,
the
Corporation
purchased
Lindsay
Street,
made
plans
to
raze
the
old
Fenwick's
Bazar
located
there,
and
commissioned
Richard
Roskell
Bayne,
an
architect
of
the
East
Indian
Railway
Company,
to
design
the
Victorian
Gothic
market
complex
which
would
take
its
place.
It
began
to
take
shape
in
1873,
and
Bayne
was
honoured
for
his
achievement
with
a
Rs.
1,000
rupee
award,
a
large
sum
in
the
1870s.
Mackintosh
Burn
was
the
builder.
The
giant
shopping
arcade
was
thrown
open
to
the
English
populace
with
some
fanfare
on
1
January
1874.
News
of
Calcutta's
first
municipal
market
spread
rapidly.
Affluent
colonials
from
all
over
India
shopped
at
exclusive
retailers
like
Ranken
and
Company
(dressmakers),
Cuthbertson
and
Harper
(shoe-merchants)
and
R.W.
Newman
or
Thacker
Spink,
the
famous
stationers
and
book-dealers.
Sir
Stuart
Hogg,
then
the
Chairman
of
Calcutta
Corporation,
had
shown
tenacious
support
for
the
plans
to
build
the
New
Market.
So,
28
years
later,
on
2
December
1903,
the
market
was
officially
named
Sir
Stuart
Hogg
Market
and
later
shortened
to
Hogg
Market.
Bengali
society,
in
the
British
era,
called
it
Hogg
Shaheber
Bajaar,
a
name
that
is
still
in
use,
just
as
a
painting
of
Sir
Stuart
Hogg
still
hangs
in
Calcutta
Corporation's
portrait
gallery.
But
the
earliest
provisional
nickname,
New
Market,
which
remained
in
use
throughout,
proved
to
have
the
most
sticking
power.
New
Market's
growth
kept
pace
with
the
city
until
World
War
II.
The
northern
portion
of
the
market
came
up
in
1909
at
an
expense
of
6
lakh
rupees.
Despite
the
gathering
storm
of
World
War
II,
an
extension
was
engineered
on
the
south
flank,
and
the
historic
clock
tower
on
the
southern
end
of
the
market
was
shipped
over
from
Huddersfield
and
installed
in
the
1930s.
Florists
were
located
near
the
front
entrance,
and
stalls
selling
fresh
and
preserved
foods
were
placed
towards
the
rear
of
the
market.
Beyond
the
vegetable
stalls,
fishmongers
and
slaughterhouse
butchers
plied
their
trade,
and,
until
the
mid-1970s,
at
the
very
back
of
the
market,
exotic
animals
from
all
over
the
British
Empire
could
be
bought
as
pets.
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