English
Municipal Building
Ponda, Goa, India
Equipment and Infrastructures
The Municipal Building is situated beside the main road to Queula and faces north onto the municipal gardens. Its construction date is not known, though it is thought to be after 1885, given that the description of Ponda’s streets published in the official gazette refers to a building where the council administration functioned, thereby indicating that the building occupied by the administration was not built for that purpose. No building pertaining to the municipality was included in the list of public buildings drawn up by the public works director in 1896, only the headquarters of the Forest Administration and the administrator’s residence, which probably is what now houses the Municipal Building. The fact that a municipal commission only existed in Ponda after December 1880 leads us to believe that the council building was in any case subsequent to that date. A glance at a Ponda map shows that the Municipal Building’s construction originated or completed this part of the city, which seems to be the only planned one. The rest of the urban layout apparently grew up organically around the accesses to other villages. The single-storey building is arranged around a central patio and possesses a veranda around three of the façades. The main façade is symmetrical and marked by a projecting central body. Above the latter is a pediment flanked by two plinths, with a central oculus in a painted pentagon flanked by two sculpted plaster wing panels. It recalls the Quepem Municipal Building, where the interior spaces are also accessed from the veranda; in this case they are also accessed via the interior patio. It is possible that the two constructions are contemporary. The main façade of the Ponda Municipal Building has not changed since the 1950s. But the building’s original body is thought to have been quadrangular; a volume was later added on the north side and has a more modern vocabulary than the rest of the building.