The area of Daryaganj is the south-eastern part of the walled city of Shahjahanabad, and used to lie along the banks of the river Yamuna (the floodplain of the river was “shifted” roughly a kilometer to the east by the British), south of the Red Fort.The Daryaganj area had always been separated from the rest of the city, by the Red Fort to the north and Faiz Bazaar road (now Netaji Subhash Marg) to the west, and was occupied by large river-side mansions and havelis and gardens. After 1857 when the British took over the walled city, Daryaganj was occupied by the British military, and the area remained in their hands till the early 20th century. Due to this, the type of growth that occurred in the rest of the walled city in the late-19th c/early-20th c, leading to the dense urban fabric of much of the city, did not take place in Daryaganj. Instead, the area was developed in the first half of the 20th century into commercial, residential and institutional zones. The commercial area was located along the erstwhile Faiz Bazaar road, and built mainly in a simple colonial neoclassical style, though most buildings have been altered since to varying degrees.

 

General location of Daryaganj area

Commercial buildings along Netaji Subhash Marg

 

Buildings along the western side of the street

Photos have been taken starting from the northern end to the southern end of the road.

 

 

A comparatively more recent building

A courtyard within one of the commercial buildings

18th c Sunehri Masjid

A simpler modernist style

A couple of deco buildings along the stretch

Building next to Delhi Gate

Buildings along the western side of the street

Once again, starting from the northern end of the road to the southern end

 

Small mosque

Delhi Gate

Delhi Gate was one of the original main gates into the walled city of Shahjahanabad. It lies at the southern end of Daryaganj.