William Fraser's Bungalow

Referred to as a 'white mughal' by noted author William Dalrymple, William Fraser was a civil servant in the times of British ruled India and the reign of the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar. His bungalow, today the site of the Railway office, was built next to the Yamuna in 1803 when he was the deputy resident of Delhi. Fraser was murdered outside this bungalow and has been buried in the grounds of the neighbouring St. James' Church.

The rather well-maintained structure of William Fraser's bungalow is also the recipient of DDA's Adaptive Urban Heritage award in 1998. The building comprises of two separate structures that have been joined together. Architecture is in the Indo-Saracenic style, also known as Indo-Gothic or Hindu-Gothic. The building was greatly damaged during the revolt of 1857 and has since then been restored hence the alteration in architectural styles.

What is most interesting is that the building stands on a tykhana, or a dungeon, that has three tunnels, one leading up to Red Fort, the other to the Yamuna river and the third to a corner of the bungalow's huge campus. This network of tunnels was meant to facilitate clandestine passage of sepoys as well as prisoners, not to mention their execution. Often, prisoners were sent from the Red Fort, decapitated in one part of the dungeon and their bodies thrown into the nearby Yamuna river without anyone getting to know.

The Yamuna river's waters came right up to the dungeons at the time that the waters had not receded. This is probably why these dungeons reek of a dank odour even today. A part of the tunnel accessible from behind the bungalow has some lighting for people to be able to walk along a portion of this. Since most of the elaborate tunnel networks under Red Fort are either broken down or inaccessible, this tykhana is an interesting opportunity to explore if you'd fancy a peek into history and the scandalous crimes that could have taken place here.

An alert for single women tourists, go in large groups if you plan to explore the tunnels.

How to reach
If you are planning to take the metro, take the Kashmere Gate exit and ask a three wheeler or a cycle rickshaw (plenty available) to the St. James' Church. The building is right behind the church.