THE history of Farashganj begins when a French company leased a bazaar in Dhaka and the area popularly came to be known as Farashganj. These houses in Farashganj date back to the British rule when villas and semimansions came as first residential structures. The houses were an imprint of newfound urban lifestyle the elite pursued. To put differently, ownership of a bungalow-styled house was a gateway to the elite class. Eras changed, and so did the way of life. Middle-class people borrowed the urban ideas of living from rich businessmen and started building houses modelled on Doric architectural form.

The houses reflected not only wealth and economic class of the owners but their aesthetics as well. Ashu Babu, Ram Babu, Ajit Babu and Prashanna Babu of Dhaka were just a few owners to name. They erected the houses along the same road and created a look of singular design. Farashganj is perhaps the only place in Dhaka that boasts the Doric-style buildings. The buildings are an integral part of an area that became a business hub in 1780, thanks to Nayeb (revenue collector) Nazim Nawajish Mohammad Khan.

But time ravages beauty and it slowly but surely wore the historic buildings down. The government should come forward to preserve and protect these archeologically important buildings from falling into ruins.

-- Arun Devnath