Model Town Lahore — A New Residential Symbol in British India (Episode 03)

Historical records show that approximately 1,963 acres of land were acquired for the Model Town Cooperative Housing Society. This land was located between the then suburban areas of Lahore, including Kalakhtri, Sattukatla and Chopra, and at that time it was considered to be approximately five to six miles outside the limits of Lahore city.
By 1921, Lahore’s population and urban growth had begun to spread beyond the Walled City, extending through Anarkali and Lakshmi Chowk towards Egerton Road, McLeod Road, Charing Cross and Mozang. Administratively, however, many of these areas were still not formally included within the municipal limits of the city.
According to Lahore Municipal Committee maps of that period, the legal limits of Lahore extended roughly up to Anarkali and Lakshmi Chowk. Although residential and commercial activity had begun to develop beyond these areas, they were still officially regarded as being outside the city and were commonly described as “Suburban Lahore” or the “Outskirts of the Municipal City.”
This was also the period when Charing Cross, now regarded as one of Lahore’s central locations, was rapidly emerging under British rule as an administrative, educational, judicial and cultural centre.
British authorities developed the area as Lahore’s new institutional core, bringing together major government offices, courts and centres of higher education in order to shape the city’s growth according to a more organised and modern urban pattern.
Major buildings and institutions such as Aitchison College, Lahore Museum, the High Court, Punjab Assembly Building, Town Hall and the Secretariat had emerged as important landmarks of this changing city. Electricity was also gradually beginning to be introduced to make such buildings more comfortable and functional.
As part of this wider development, major government institutions were established around Charing Cross, while areas such as Civil Lines were developed for British officials and their families. Nearby, the elite Gymkhana Club was established in the area of today’s Bagh e Jinnah.
The road network around Charing Cross was also carefully planned. The Mall, Egerton Road, Queen’s Road and Hall Road connected this growing institutional centre with northern Lahore, including Anarkali and McLeod Road, and with southern areas such as Mozang and the direction in which Model Town would later develop.
These roads reflected Lahore’s gradual transformation into a more organised, greener and modern city.
During the British period, Lahore was therefore beginning to move beyond its historic walls and the narrow streets of the old city. A new urban identity was emerging in which the city’s traditional eastern character was gradually being blended with elements of western urban culture.
Charing Cross became one of the earliest symbols of this transformation.
In the Lahore of the 1920s, a number of educated residents were closely observing these changes.
For its military requirements, the British administration had developed Lahore Cantonment to the east of the city, where British military personnel and their families could live close to the cantonment.
At the same time, Civil Lines had been developed as a modern residential area for British civil officers, judges and senior bureaucrats, featuring spacious bungalows, large gardens and tree lined surroundings.
Lahore’s educated and socially aware residents observed these developments with considerable interest. Many among them were beginning to imagine a new type of residential environment away from the congestion and narrow streets of the old city.
These observations and aspirations later contributed to the idea of developing a modern residential project such as the Model Town Society Lahore.
To be continued in Episode 4.