Writers' Building (exterior view)

Writers' Building occupies a long block along the north side of Dalhousie Square, now BBD Bagh, in central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was first built in 1777 as offices and lodgings for junior clerks of the East India Company, who were known as writers, and was designed by the architect Thomas Lyon. Over the next century it was extended and given its present Neoclassical and Italianate character, with a continuous red-brick facade about 150 metres long, a central pediment, Corinthian columns and rooftop sculptures of Greek figures representing Minerva, Justice, Commerce and Agriculture. It is built of brick and covered in stucco and has long verandahs along the upper storeys. The building served as the seat of the Bengal government's secretariat for most of the colonial and post-colonial era and was home to the offices of the West Bengal Chief Minister and many departments. On 8 December 1930, the revolutionaries Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta stormed the building and shot Colonel N. S. Simpson, Inspector General of Prisons, in what became known as the Writers' Building attack; the area around the square was later renamed BBD Bagh after the three men. The state secretariat was moved to Nabanna in Howrah during the early 2010s, and the building has since been undergoing restoration, with work focused on structural repair of the roof and facade, and plans to convert parts of it to a museum. The interior is not open to the public, so the exterior is the visitor experience: the long facade can be viewed from the pavement of Netaji Subhas Road and from the BBD Bagh square, together with neighbouring colonial buildings such as the General Post Office, the Telegraph Office and St Andrew's Kirk.