Moving heirlooms and art in Kolkata

Burma teak doors, Osler chandeliers and Raja Ravi Varma prints travel from a North Calcutta mansion into a Kolkata apartment by A Square Designs

05 Oct 2026

Rhea Oswal

Every heirloom in this home arrived with two things: a family story and a precise set of measurements. Tasked with moving generations of a North Calcutta mansion into an 8,000 sq ft residence, Ajay Arya of A Square Designs treated the brief as an act of memory. “Instead of designing an entirely new language, we sought to reinterpret the architectural and emotional character of the ancestral home within a contemporary shell,” he says.

The brief, in essence, was continuity. The plan holds a formal living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a powder room, a master bedroom, a guest bedroom and a bedroom each for the family’s two daughters, with service and utility spaces tucked out of sight.

“The process became one of translating heritage into a modern context while retaining familiarity, proportion and emotional resonance"

Ajay Arya

Diagonal chequers of White Michelangelo and Pietra Grey marble recall the ancestral courtyard, as an Osler chandelier lights heirloom chairs and a sideboard lined with blue and white jars. Styled by Kunnal Das; Photography by Gokull Rao Kadam

Inventory of the heart

Before a single drawing was made, the team turned archivist. Every heirloom worth keeping, from Burma teak doors and wardrobes to chandeliers, furniture and art, was documented, restored and given a new address. The first of them greets you before you are even inside: a carved wooden door from the old house now serves as the main entrance, flanked by an antique teak console and a Raja Ravi Varma print. It is a fitting prologue, announcing plainly that this home intends to remember.

Ajay resisted the pull of borrowed references. “Rather than drawing references from external styles, we looked inward, at rituals, heirlooms, craftsmanship and the architectural vocabulary of their former home,” he explains. Classical proportions and colonial detailing meet contemporary planning and generous daylight, and the result reads as timeless rather than nostalgic. “Every room was conceived as an extension of the family’s story, where heritage and modern living coexist in quiet dialogue,” he adds.

Twin carved antique cabinets frame a Raja Ravi Varma artwork print in the dining room, as an antique green glazed Portuguese planter adds colour against diagonal chequers of marble. Styled by Kunnal Das; Photography by Gokull Rao Kadam

A timber four poster and caned loveseat, both by Ochre At Home, anchor the master bedroom, grounded by a Kashmiri silk rug and layered in D'Decor, Warwick and Oma linens. Styled by Kunnal Das; Photography by Gokull Rao Kadam

Where the courtyard lives on

The living room is where the family gathers most, and the space Ajay most enjoyed shaping. Beneath a vintage Osler chandelier dating to the years after World War II, heirloom pieces sit easily beside bespoke furniture, dressed in soft florals and set over a pale rug. Panels of palm fringed scenery and slate blue walls give the room the feel of a colonial verandah on a slow afternoon.

In the dining room, the original furniture has been reinstated almost exactly as it once stood, only now in a brighter room with greenery at the windows. Underfoot, diagonal chequers of white and grey marble recall the courtyard of the ancestral house, a reference the family recognises at once. Antique Portuguese planters and pieces collected on the family’s travels fill the corners. “The process became one of translating heritage into a modern context while retaining familiarity, proportion and emotional resonance,” Ajay notes.

An intricately carved antique bed from the ancestral home, dressed in sage and ivory linen by Sarita Handa and Oma, rests beneath a trio of Raja Ravi Varma prints. Styled by Kunnal Das; Photography by Gokull Rao Kadam

Blush tones soften the daughter's bedroom, where an antique bed refinished in PU meets a custom desk by Ochre At Home, a caned chair and a Klove mushroom lamp. Styled by Kunnal Das; Photography by Gokull Rao Kadam

Carved teak, warm stone and soft textiles

Here, the materials play the supporting cast, so the restored heirlooms keep the spotlight. Carved teak, warm stone and soft textiles set a tone of permanence, while the colours drift through soft whites, blushing greys, creams and beiges, anchored by deep timber and the occasional note of black. The powder room, wrapped in Brazilian quartzite and lit by Osler sconces, plays the jewel box. In the private quarters, a timber four-poster with a caned loveseat, a French carved antique bed and a refinished heirloom in a daughter’s room keep the narrative intimate.

The hardest part, Ajay admits, was technical. Elements salvaged from a very different building had to be measured, restored and proportioned until they looked as though they had always belonged. “Achieving that seamless continuity was both the project’s most demanding and most fulfilling aspect,” he says. The teak doors open onto familiar rooms, the chandeliers light the same family dinners and every heirloom sits where hands expect to find it. For a family who moved across the city, the only thing that truly changed was the address.

Brazilian quartzite cocoons the powder room, where Osler sconces flank an antique carved mirror above a brass vessel basin with Hansgrohe fittings, while a Middle Eastern kilim warms the floor. Styled by Kunnal Das; Photography by Gokull Rao Kadam