About Cochin House
One of the legacies of Kerala House is Cochin House located on Jantar Mantar Road.
Cochin House, earlier named as 'Vaikund' was designed by renowned English architect Walter Sykes George and was constructed in 1903-1911 by Sujan Singh who was responsible for several landmark constructions in Luten's zone in Delhi. He constructed the building for their stay in Delhi to oversee the construction of Rashtrapati Bhavan, North Block and South Block. The erstwhile King of Cochin Ramavarma bought the property and the building in 1920 from Sir Sobha Singh, son of Sujan Singh for his residential need in Delhi when the king comes for the routine durbar with the British Governor General. The building was renamed 'Cochin State Palace' then. After the formation of the State of Kerala, this building came under the ownership of Govt of Kerala.
The Cochin House also owns many more legacies in modern history that it was used to house war offices during the Second World War from 1940 -45. It was the office of the Personal Representative of the President of the United States of America in British India from 1941-43. The first office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) functioned within part of this building from 1946-53.
