Rashtrapati Nilayam

Rashtrapati Nilayam राष्ट्रपति निलायम
Residency House, c. 1892,Photo: Lala Deen Dayal
General information
Type	Official retreat
Location	Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Completed	1860

External image

A slideshow of Rashtrapati Nilayam building, Hyderabad. Published in Deccan Chronicle

Rashtrapati Nilayam (literally the "President's House") originally known as Residency House is the official retreat of the President of India located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India where the President stays at least once a year and conducts official business. It is also used as a guest house for visiting dignitaries. It is located in Bolarum, Secunderabad. It was thrown open for public viewing from 1 January to 10 January, with entry being free.

Originally the Residency House, was constructed in 1860 by Nizam Nazir-ud-Dowla. It became the country house of the British Resident at Secunderabad. After the Hyderabad state's annexation in 1948, it became President's retreat and used as Southern Sojourn.

The 16-room estate is spread over an area of 90 acres (360,000 m²), consisting of single storied building besides visitors' quarters that can accommodate 150 people. It has a Dining Hall, Darbar Hall, Morning room, Cinema Hall etc. Unique aspect of this Rashtrapati Nilayam is that the kitchen and dining hall are independent buildings connected with an underground tunnel to take food.

The retreat's premises comprises landscaped garden, seasonal flowering plants and display of potted plants around the main building, natural cascading water falls and seven different types of nutrition gardens of Mango, Sapota, Pomegranate, Guava, Amla, Coconut and Cheeku.

The Herbal Garden, inaugurated in December 2009, of medicinal and aromatic plants is spread over 7,000 sq metres, has about 116 species of medicinal and aromatic plants including sarpagandha, kalabandha, citronella, lemon grass, khus, geranium, coriander, sandalwood, tuber rose, jasmine, kalmegh, tulsi etc. The garden was built by CPWD and the Telangana State Medicinal Plants Board, while Rashtrapati Bhavan and National Medicinal Plants Board funded the project. The Herbal Garden Medicinal Plants Work done by sri. B.Venkateswara Rao, Forest Range Officer and Civil Work by Sri. PB. Narayana Murthy, Junior Engineer, Incharge of Rashtrapati Nilayam, Bolarum and Sri. M. Pavan Kalyan, Junior Engineer Assistant of Rashtrapati Nilayam, Bolarum and Civil Contractor Sri. B.S. Sridhar Krishna Yadav.Landscape architect of the garden was Mr.K.B.Srivathsa.<work order>