Vikram Rathore

Conservation Architect | Haveli restoration, lime work & measured drawings | Jaipur

I’m a conservation architect based in Jaipur, working on old havelis and the details that make them worth keeping. My days move between measured drawings, site visits and conversations with masons, carpenters and lime plaster craftsmen—usually with a notebook close at hand. I prefer a careful repair to a convincing replacement, and I try to understand a building before asking it to change. Away from work, I lead free neighbourhood heritage walks, sketch facades in ink and spend Sunday mornings riding at our family stable near Achrol.

Lead documentation and restoration planning for privately owned havelis in Jaipur and the Shekhawati region. Coordinate condition surveys, repair drawings and site trials with craftspeople, with particular attention to lime plaster, timber openings and courtyard drainage. Work with owners to accommodate everyday use without losing the buildings’ character.

Prepared measured drawings, fabric condition maps and repair specifications for courtyard houses in Rajasthan. Supervised small restoration packages and documented craft processes, including lime finishing and the repair of existing timber shutters.

Supported historic-building surveys and adaptive reuse studies from the practice’s Jaipur office. Produced hand-measured plans, photographic inventories and facade drawings, and assisted senior architects during site inspections.

Architectural Conservation, Heritage Documentation, Measured Drawings, Building Condition Assessment, Lime Mortar and Plaster, Adaptive Reuse, Restoration Site Supervision, AutoCAD, Architectural Ink Sketching, Community Heritage Interpretation

Hindi, English, Rajasthani

Organise and lead free, small-group heritage walks through Jaipur’s old city, usually one Sunday each month in cooler weather. Routes focus on everyday buildings and street details; private homes are never entered without permission.

We left one repaired timber shutter unpainted for the owner’s review this week. It made the work easier to explain: the sound old wood, the small new insert, the joint between them. Our carpenter had spent most of a morning getting that joint right. Once painted, it will be almost invisible. I am keeping a photograph in the project record, with his name beside it. A finished building rarely tells you who took such care.

Before deciding what to repair in a courtyard, it helps to visit during rain. Yesterday’s site visit in Jaipur showed us a blocked outlet and a patch of paving that sent water towards a doorway rather than away from it. Neither was especially dramatic in the dry-weather photographs. We have revised the sequence of work accordingly. Documentation is necessary, but a building still needs to be watched while it is doing its ordinary work.

Twelve people joined this morning’s free walk through the lanes off Kishanpole Bazaar. We covered less ground than planned because a discussion about shop shutters became a discussion about hinges, and then about who still repairs them. I did not mind. We stayed on public streets and kept entrances clear. Thank you to everyone who came with questions, and to the shopkeeper who let us examine an old hinge before his morning customers arrived.

A useful hour on site today, looking at lime plaster sample panels with the mason and the owner. The first choice was the smoothest panel. After we compared it with the surviving finish in the shaded corner, we chose a quieter, less uniform surface. Matching an old wall is not simply a matter of matching its colour. Texture, light and the way the material has been worked all need a place in the conversation.