Calcutta’s First Hotel
Anindita Mazumder
“Burra Poachkhana!” Immediately after coming ashore at the Landing Place near the old fort the latest visitor to arrive at the second city of the Empire would holler at the palki bearers and they would straight head towards the most luxurious abode of the time –Spence’s Hotel
John Spence was thought to be the “originator” of hotels in Calcutta, atleast of the opulent kind. One can well imagine the effect Spence’s, with all its fineries, had on the weary visitor who after a long sea voyage around the Cape, surviving solely on a diet of salt beef and hard biscuits and having seen only ‘one table cloth to last the voyage’, now beheld “a snow white table cloth on which was drawn up in beautiful array ham, eggs (fresh for a change), a superb kind of fish from the saltwater lakes called a becktee or cockup fried, boiled rice, muffins, tea, coffee etc. Plantains, radishes, small prints of butter in a handsome cut glass vessel of coldwater and a bouquet of flowers in the centre gave a most cool and refreshing appearance to the table. A khidmatgar or native bearer stood behind each of our chairs with a chauree (fly-fapper) to keep in awe the flies and a punkah waved pleasantly above our heads.”
It was well situated, just a stone throw away from Governor’s House– at first, where the treasury building stands today and when this was acquired by the government, it moved to a parcel of land opposite to the North Gate of Raj Bhavan, at the crossing of Wellesley Place and Fancy Lane. In those days the ugly looking Telephone Bhawan was yet to be built and one could see Writers’ Buildings straight from Governor’s Place. Charles D’ Oyly had even drawn apainting of Writers’ Buildings from Spence’s hotel. The plot was bought by Spence cheaply, evidently taking advantage of the falling prices in real estate after Palmer Company failed. Park Street was yet to be the favoured destination of the well-heeled. Most of the hotels were within the limits of White Town – Bentinck Street, Rani Mudee Gully, Waterloo Street and Dhurramtola. Till the very end which came in late 1960s and before it was demolished and gave way to a bank, Spence’s Hotel was well served by a long line of excellent managers, barmen and stewards.
At the beginning, however, hotels were not so popular in India. There were hardly any lodging options for those visiting the city. At least the bachelors, particularly with some connection with the military could stay at the barracks. It was more difficult for couples or families who had to seek the hospitality of the denizens, and their availability was far outnumbered by the demand. Spence’s Hotel opened three yearsafter Bengal Club which offered members residential facilities, often taken as an indication of slow acceptance of hotels in the country.
John Spence arrived at Calcutta in the 1820s and by 1828 was working in a smaller establishment in Pollock Street along with Charles Dawson. In 1830, Dawson died and Spence probably opened his hotel in the same year. Miss Emma Roberts wrote: “Formerly strangers visiting Calcutta were dependent upon the hospitality of residents, or were compelled to take large unfurnished houses, there being neither lodging nor hotels for the reception of guests. But the capital of Bengal has become too large to admit the continuance of old customs so boarding and other houses of entertainment have been opened and being conducted in so respectable in manner that … no person, however fastidious, can scruple to become aninmate of them”.
Initially, rates in Spence’s hotel were in harmony with the times. In the later years of the 1830s the rent for rooms in the ground floor was Rs 250 and for second or third floor sit was Rs 350, not a low sum in those days. In contrast, Benton’s Hotel, a lowly establishment in Rani Mudie Lane (British Indian Street) charged Rs 90 as monthly rent for a room. Its famed coffee room was quite popular among the captains of the ships coming ashore. As business grew, Spence’s dispensed the role of wine merchant, Commission agent and steward of the Town Hall Committee. He and his efficient staff were incharge of catering the ball given in honour of HRH Prince of Orange at the Town Hall in 1838. In addition, he had set up a refreshment room at Eden Gardens for “thirsty” sahibs and memsahibs though the cyclone of 1868 swept it away.
Following in the footsteps of its more illustrious neighbour Governor’s House, it was the first hotel to install a lift as well as became one of first to be centrally air-conditioned. Apparently, its AC plant had come from a ship. It had a ball room and three opulent entrances (undoubtedly, a maze for patrons after too many pegs). The hotels agent in London booked cabarets (later years) and floor shows during the heydays when Calcutta was truly the flesh pot of the East and Spence’s offered fine dining, the best wines and uninterrupted entertainment.
By 1860, however, the Great Eastern Hotel overtook it as the best hotel in the city. Spence ran the hotel till 1878 and the management then changed hands several times. During Second World War, it became the officer’s mess of Royal Air Force. The hotel was also known for its famous patrons – Michael Madhusudan Dutta stayed for two and a half years after returning from England and met other noted personalities such as Vidyasagar at Spence’s. Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, a much decorated soldier of the British Empire also chose to stay at Spence’s whenever he was in town and finally barrister Noel Fredrick Barwell, immortalised by novelist Shankar in Kato Ajanare, made it his home till it closed shop. The novel “Chowringhee” was inspired by Spence’s hotel where Shankar’s mentor Barwell had resided.
Another historical meeting – the one between Prince Duleep Singh (youngest son of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh) and his mother, Rani Jhindan took place at Spence’s hotel on January 16, 1861, 13 years after they were separated following the conquest of Punjab. A reference made by Jules Verne in his novel, The Seam House in 1880 counting Spence’s to be among the best hotels in Calcutta was truly another feather in the cap of one of the finest establishment of the City of Joy.