Chunnamal haveli, 19th-century mansion in Chandni Chowk, India.
Chunnamal haveli is a 19th-century courtyard mansion in the Katra Nil section of Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, with 150 rooms across three floors on one acre of land. It is built of lakhori bricks and lime mortar, with parts added in 1864. A long veranda runs from the front, its left wall white with a green band and blue flower motifs, its right side a colonnade of eleven slender green pillars.
The mansion was built in the 19th century by Rai Chunnamal, a merchant who expanded his fortune during the 1857 uprising. His commercial ventures and later acquisitions shaped the property's role in the city's development.
An inscription on the wall of the drawing room records that the mansion was built in 1848, with some parts added in 1864. The family were Khatri Punjabi traders whose wholesale trade in brocade and cloth dated back to Mughal times, and Lala Chunnamal was chosen as a commissioner of Delhi's first municipal committee in 1862.
The property is maintained by a descendant of the founding family who occasionally allows film productions to take place there. Visitors should check in advance whether the mansion is accessible, as filming schedules may restrict access.
The estate is surrounded by a connected complex of roughly 139 shops that belong to the original holdings and continue to shape the commercial character of the area. This makes it a rare example of a fully intact colonial-era trading complex in Old Delhi.
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