Built for Legacy, Crafted for Generations
Thengal House was constructed in the year 1929 by Rai Bahadur Siva Prasad Barooah. It was meant to accommodate the two brothers, Siva Prasad Barooah and Sashi Prasad Barooah and their families in the joint family set-up.
A Legacy Shaken: Thengal Manor’s Resilience Through Earthquakes and Time
At one time when both the brothers with their families were living there, there used to be about 100 people for lunch and dinner every day, including many people who came to stay as guests. In 1943, this building was damaged by a severe earthquake, when the house had to be abandoned temporarily for repair. After repairing the building, the families started living in this house till 1950 when the biggest earthquake so far in the North East damaged the structure severely. The house was abandoned and the members of the two families moved to Calcutta, Jorhat town, and the tea gardens.
The Silent Years: Thengal Manor’s Transformation and Preservation
Between 1950 and 1963, for 13 years, the house was unused till repair work started by Mr. H P Barooah by which time, the ancestral properties were partitioned and Thengal Manor fell to the share of Mr. Barooah’s side of the family. Although the house was repaired in 1965, there was no one to live in this house as in the meantime Mr. Barooah had built his own house – Villa Club Road at Jorhat town. Approaches were made by the public to the Barooah Family to convert it into a Museum, or Hospital, or Library, or College, etc. But it was felt by the family that this house, meant for residential purpose, did not lend itself for conversion into a Museum, Hospital, Library, College, etc.
