The Imperial, New Delhi

How the Stage was Set

HISTORY IN BRIEF

1936: Opening year.
HISTORY IN DETAIL
1911: the capital was officially moved from Calcutta to New Delhi.
1913: India sent a strong intellectual signal into the world. Indian Rabindranath Tagore3 became the first non-Westerner to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
According to Thomas Cook’s handbook for travellers Cecil, Laurie’s and Maiden’s Metropolitan Hotel were the first hotels in old Delhi. Until the 1930s New Delhi had no hotel of international standards.
1934: First plan of New Delhi shows a ‘Hotel’ at Queens Way around 1934. This was to become The Imperial. That year, Rai Bahadur, the builder and owner of the land and Blomfield developed a remarkably modern building, finally leaving traditional Indian influences in the past: The Imperial. The sober Art Deco structure was a striking feature of the building, which was set to become the country’s most modern hotel and the revolving point of modern India. Lady Willindon, the wife of the Viceroy, lent her advice as how to furnish the hotel.
1935: The firm of C.G. and F.B. Blomfield - a modern team of architects - had built the ‘Modern School’ in Daryaganj, New Delhi, which opened in 1920.
1936: The Imperial opened its doors with a gala affair that spread over a few days. The British aristocracy gathered, India’s leaders arrived and the Maharajas from the northern states stayed at the hotel, enjoying their wonderful viceregal suites with 20 foot bathroom ceilings.
1947 Monday, 9 June:  Jinnah’s All Muslim League Council met at The Imperial. Some 425 delegates had gathered in the ornate Grand Ballroom. Suddenly some 50 Khaksars, ‘Servants of the dust’, a militant Moslem group, storming in from Queens Way were crossing the lawn. From the veranda, they rushed into the restaurant, brandishing belchas, sharpened spades. They started to devastate the furniture of ‘Shahnaz’ restaurant: ‘Get Jinnah!’ they shouted, sprinting to the nearest staircase. By now the vigilant police in front of the hotel had called for reinforcements and the guards in front of the ballroom on the first floor were on full alert. The ‘Servants of the dust’ were reaching the landing in front of the ballroom. The doors had been blocked from the inside, while on the stairs the guards of the National League awaited the intruders. A heavy fight ensued, driving the rebels back downstairs. At the bottom of the staircase the police awaited them with tear gas and arrested them.
The delegates inside the grand ballroom were clearly shocked by the interruption. Jinnah was hailed as Shahenshah-e-Pakistan, (literally ‘Emperor of Pakistan’) in the Persian style of Iran’s monarch, but Jinnah urged his supporters not to repeat it, insisting: ‘I am a soldier of Pakistan, not its Emperor.’
1948, 31 January: A man called Nathuram Godse pulled a 38 calibre Beretta and shot dead Mahatma Gandhi.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sombrely announced the death of Gandhiji, the Mahatma: ‘The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere’.
1980s: A member of the owning family had taken the helm of The Imperial: Jasdev Singh Akoi.
2001: Gobind Akoi, the son of Jasdev Singh Akoi, became the new executive director of the hotel. Gobind Akoi was at Cornell, had worked in the USA, knew the trade, and knew that he needed a professional to run his jewel in the crown, The Imperial: ‘I found Rishi Kapoor, who was the first to join me in my new team.’
2002: India almost went to war with Pakistan. The New York Times published headlines like ‘12 Million Could Die at Once in an India-Pakistan Nuclear War’.* The threat led to the evacuation of Delhi. Following intelligence advice, all foreign missions left and the hotel’s occupancy rate dropped to five percent.  India had less than two million visitors at that time. In comparison London’s Madame Tussauds had four million. Luckily, Pakistan and India found a way to resolve the crisis.
That same year, Frenchman Pierre Jochem became the first foreigner at the helm of The Imperial since the 1950s. He had been general manager at New York’s hotel The Pierre (in addition to other leading Asian hotels). The hotel had 285 rooms and 4,000 pieces of art were on display there.
Fashion icon Raghavendra Rathore was contracted to create uniforms for 60 different positions. A blissful new style of music echoed through the hotel. The Imperial became the first hotel in India to hire music designer Marc Barrott to create special moods in different sections of the hotel. In the kitchen Bruno Cerdan, followed by Paolo Petris in 2005, motivated his Indian colleagues. A French pâtissier created delightful little ‘sins’, English afternoon tea was served. A new lunch and dinner concept was introduced in all restaurants and the ‘unpronounceable’ Italian place ‘San Gimignano’ became the favourite haunt of the city’s swish set.
2005:  A high-speed Internet connection was installed in every room, soon to be topped by WIFI radio equipment on all floors.
2006: Against growing competition The Imperial remains the number one in India, receives numerous global travel and tourism awards and it becomes increasingly difficult to book a room at the hotel. Plans are underway to expand the hotel’s capacity by adding rooms in an adjacent block.
A Spa and a new pool were installed.
From our book The Imperial New Delhi by Andreas Augustin