Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/142

 portion or all of the old house built over. The bungalows would, of course, leave no trace when once pulled down, but the "large tank of excellent water" still remains.

"The description of the upper-roomed house in Lot 2 corresponds with the centre portion of Hastings House, which is all that existed in Hastings' time—the little house which seemed to Mrs. Fay a 'perfect bijou.' The stone staircase still stands, but can scarcely be called handsome, being narrow, winding, and steep. The back staircase is also in good preservation, it is built into an odd corner-cupboardlike wooden shaft, within a bath-room, and is lighted by a small-barred window which opens into the room. The Madras Chunam of the advertisement is lost under successive coats of whitewash.

"The hall and two rooms on each floor form the original house, the central block, while the wings are distinctly of a later period, as is evidenced by the style of the beams and burghas, and by the stucco work. The entire building is raised four feet from the ground, but only the wings are flued—another mark of the later period, and finally the walls of the wings do not 'bond' into those of the central block. This is very apparent on the southern front of the building."

In the same way as the surroundings of Hastings House are very different now to what