The manor that moved

Architect Pradeep Sachdeva’s 300-year-old Kerala weekend homestead transcends memories and boundaries

31 May 2025

Produced by Sonia Dutt

Meda belonged to the Oomen family in Kerala for three centuries. Constructed completely out of timber, the house was located in a village called Mepral, outside the Syrian Christian town of Thiruvella. And since it was next to a river prone to occasional flooding, its lower level was built in laterite stone. My friend George Oomen, who lives in Boston, owned and looked after it. Over a drink, he mentioned that while he loved the villa very much, he was finding it difficult to take care of it from a long distance. In an impulsive move, I offered to buy it from him and bring it up to Gurgaon. Thus began the great adventure of physically moving Meda from one place to another that is about 2,200 km away. Spread about 1,000 sq ft per floor (ground and first), it is now in a village named Sadhrana in Gurgaon, near the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. I already possessed the land and had a small place used mainly on weekends.

The final result looked even better than the original – it is good to last for another 100 years, at least. — Pradeep Sachdeva

On the first floor outside one of the bedrooms, the verandah makes an enviously warm coffee sipping and reading corner. While the table and chairs are Pradeep’s own treasured possessions, the lamp with an onyx base was a present from a friend who got it from Pakistan. The spiral staircase at the back was cast in iron especially for the house, by another good pal of the architect, John Bowman; Photography by S Thiru

This bungalow became a new and surprising addition to the agricultural landscape. A group of architects from my studio and I went to Mepral, measured the structure and made detailed drawings. We also hired Narayan Achari, one of the few carpenters skilled in the traditional timber house-building craft of Kerala. He and his team took about two months in the winter of 2010 to dismantle the villa and load the components in three trucks to bring them to North India. Right after, they arrived in New Delhi and started assembling it together. It took them less than three months to do the job and the final result looked even better than the original – it is good to last for another 100 years, at least. In retrospect, the job seemed complex and challenging, but surprisingly, the process of relocation and restoration was generally smooth and eventless. I have furnished it to match the original character, which is austere and understated. Inside, there are little fragments of the place preserved well; for instance, the top of the dining table was made using leftover pieces of the house, while a corner wall in the same area has a cluster of framed photographs that document Meda’s epic journey.

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