Art on historic walls

Charmi Gada Shah travels artistically through the heritage of Koder House of yore.

Armed with her tools, the brush and paint, Mumbai artist Charmi Gada Shah travels through the intangible yesteryear of the famed Koder House in Fort Kochi. In the city on an art residency programme she researched the architectural restoration of the edifice and opened artistically, almost magically, the doors and windows to its rich past.

Home for nearly a century to the Koders, a Jewish family, Koder House was rebuilt over an old Portuguese house, in the early twentieth century. Today this extensive edifice is in three parts converted into beautiful hotels: The Old Courtyard and Grande Residencia on Princess Street and Koder House on Tower Road. The hotels, which now belong to three different owners, were once interconnected. Satu Koder and his family were residents of the present brick-red landmark hotel ‘Koder House’. This was connected by a hanging bridge to the present Grande Residencia that originally was a general merchant store on the ground floor with residential upstairs. Grande Residencia had high windows opening into the mango-tree courtyard of the present 

‘What memory or traces are left behind when something is erased?’ quotes Charmi.

Enchanted by the antiquity of this history house she convinced the present owners of her project, to open up the doors and windows figuratively. “I was just lucky that they all agreed,” she said happily, and began her work in great earnest.

Old photograph

 
PASSAGE OF TIME Mumbai artist Charmi Gada Shah accessing history and heritage through art

“We showed her an old photograph of the courtyard which had three windows at 24 feet height. We had closed them when we started the hotel. She has painted one exactly like the one in the photograph, with a slightly opened window and a few broken glass panes,” said Rose Kuruvinakunnel, proprietor of The Old Courtyard.

But what was really thrilling was when Charmi, perched high on the ladder, painting away furiously, had a live audience in the courtyard, clapping and cheering her as she completed parts of the work. “She had quite an audience,” said Rose and Charmi recalled, “Yes, they made me feel as if I was giving a live performance.”

The other side of this window remains closed as it is part of a bathing room in a modern spa. So Charmi has opened another of the three windows, which guests in the spa can look through across time and space, living once again the laughter and the cheer, the business and enterprise that did the rounds in this time soaked environs.

Connecting the Grande Residencia to the Koder House, there existed a door through which a small fairytale like bridge served as a link. The bridge remains but the door exists no more. Here, I have made drawings of the opened life size doors and the view of the bridge from the door. One can now pass through and walk across the bridge through imagination,” said a thrilled Charmi, excited at living out history in an entirely novel way.

“We gave her the support she needed to do this project and some reference on history of the house,” said Mohammed Babu, partner of the Grande Residencia. Vicky Raj, enjoying being part of preserving heritage, Koder House said with immense pride, “she has done a good job.”

And so art on the walls will lead one through the times and lives of one family, peoples and community, which have been part of Kochi’s living history. Charmi said at the end of her dream project, “In the whole process I have lived through the experience of gazing out through the window, passing from the doorways, reading the history of ‘Koder’s and I unlock a door to daydreaming.” And with her she takes us along too!