History of Frere Hall

History of Frere Hall

Frere hall is one of the iconic buildings in Karachi which now serves as an exhibition hall and library.

Frere Hall

It was built during British Raj in India. in 1863, August, the construction of it started and ended on 1865, 10 October. The architect of the building was Henry Saint Clair Wilkins, who was a prominent member of East India Company and a notable architect. The building's land was purchased for 2000 British Indian rupees, donated by Scinde Railway, one of the pioneering railways in Sindh during that time. The total cost of the hall was 180,000 rupees, 10000 rupees by Government and the rest by Karachi municipality. It was to serve as public hall. 

Bartle Frere

It was named after Henry Bartle Frere in 1884 who promoted Sindhi language to a great extent and made the first Sindhi dictionary. After the independence of Pakistan, the library on it was named as Liquat Hall. Liquat hall is the one of the largest libraries in Karachi, containing 70,000 books which included rare manuscripts and books.

The hall's ceilings were designed by famous artist Sadequain in 1980's and remained an incomplete project because of his death in 1987. Several other works of Sadequain are found in the hall, named as 'Galerie Sadequain'. Due to terrorists attacks in nearby US consulate from 2002 till 2011, it remained closed and reopened in 2011.

Sadequain design on the roof of Frere Hall

The building is built of primary yellow-tonned limestone, stone details made of white oolite stone. Red and grey sandstone are also used in the building. The roof of the hall is coated by Muntz Metal. The hall is surrounded by two lawns named Bagh e Jinnah or Jinnah's gardens.

The conditions of Frere Hall

Liaquat Hall

Have you ever heard about Frere Hall? You may or may not. And those who have heard about it probably thinks that it is a very preserved landmark. Am I saying right? Yes? No! That is not true. Recently, a field trip was held for going Karachi's historical landmarks by our school. And the one of those historical landmark was Frere Hall. Me and my friends thought that Frere Hall is a very preserved place. On the day of the field trip, when we went there, we saw something different. We asked the guide that are there any significant damages in this building, and we expected that he will say absolutely not. However, he told us that there are many damages. And we went to the library, we saw that it is in ruins. The library of Frere Hall have 60000 books, which contains books of 17th century to this century. There were many old newspapers before of 1947. Moreover, the guide of the library told us that there is also an another floor in the library which is not permissible to go because it is too dusty and allergic. The guide further told us that the funds from government are not getting released. Things there for preservation are getting neglected. Neglect is the issue there. 

The books of the library

Newspapers of 19s

Old Newspapers

An article of 'Then News' says that "It is left with broken benches and cobwebs covering doors and books." Further, its say that "the building seems to have now become just another prison for the books since no one comes to the library with the purpose of reading." We talked to the librarian whose been working Frere Hall since 30 years. She states: "We have books that are not available anywhere else in Pakistan and our borrowing procedure is also extremely simple, but sadly it's been long since a student actually came to the library with the thirst of knowledge or to borrow books." After seeing this, we thought to spread social awareness. These things are so valuable, and we should save them instead of losing them. The library needs support of citizens or otherwise we will lose it. We as citizens should develop a strategy to preserve this library. Otherwise an important cultural heritage will be lost.