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Raise a Hat to History: Ooru's iconic Cunningham Road heritage mansion to be demolished, here are the details

For anyone who traverses Cunningham Road today, seeing the nightly traffic jams and choc-a-block storefronts lining its length, it would be hard to imagine that 60 years ago, it was populated by sprawling properties with beautiful colonial bungalows. But walking its stretch with a wandering eye and curious feet, you might just stumble into The Hatworks Boulevard, one of the last vestiges of this old world that one of its owners Rishad Minocher converted into a shopping centre in 2004. However, very soon, it will close its doors to make way for a new structure. With the next generation me and my (four) siblings, our kids and now grandkids on the way there are 18 of us. We are going for a development to make the space available to the family, explains Minocher, who lives in a home beside the colonial building. Blast to the Past The building was purchased by Minochers maternal grandfather, master hat-maker Nadir Maneckjee in the 1940s, after renting the house since the 1920s as the base of Imperial Hatworks, his hat factory, showroom, and residence. Although some reports have speculated that the house is 180 years old, its exact age is uncertain, explains Minocher, Before my grandfather, the house belonged to a gentleman named Mr Bhatta. We really dont have any idea on how old it was, but it was already an old home at the time my grandfather bought it. While the structure has the typical layout of colonial homes, with a long corridor lined with rooms, Maneckjee added his own touches to it. He did a lot of restoration and modernisation work. We have some old photographs of the house in a very bad condition and you can make out that the house has changed, says Minocher, adding, He added a lot of Parsi elements, like the flame near the roof as the holy fire is central to the religion. The flooring too, has changed. In the old days, it used to be Kadappa stone and red oxide. But the central part of the house where my grandfathers showroom was, had tiles from a Mumbai manufacturer who made Italian-style tiles in India as part of the Satyagraha movement. The outhouse currently home to Trippy Goat Cafe (a reconstructed building after the original structure caved in), used to be Maneckjees workshop where he crafted headgear for the armed forces, and later even sola topis (safari hats), polo hats, riding hats, and the occasional royal turban. My grandfather developed the very first pre-tied turban for the maharaja of Mysore the uncle of the previous maharaja Srikantadutta Wadiyar, says Minocher, adding, Most of the generals bought their hats from my grandfather. He was also one of the founders of the first Rotary Club in Bangalore so he was very much in public life in those days. After Maneckjees passing in the 60s, his daughter, a teacher, inherited the business. But without the master craftsman at its helm, its glory days were past. Since all the hats were hand made and the makers were trained by my grandfather, without him around to train new people, it started dying out, even though it was well known in its day, says Minocher. An old photograph of Hatworks Boulevard Whats next? As businesses have started to vacate, the end of The Hatworks Boulevard is here but what will replace it is uncertain. We are still figuring it out. Were very sad to move on as my kids were born here and weve lived here all this time. Its the biggest change for us. Since my grandfather bought the property which went to my mother, then to us, we believe we are custodians, so whatever we do, it will represent us as a family. We are not thinking of building a commercial space, it will mostly be residential with, maybe a little more to finance the building, says Minocher, adding that rebuilding the heritage space outside the city is a possibility.