Raj Niwas, Delhi



Raj Niwas (translation: Government House) is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, the head of state of Delhi and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. It is located on Raj Niwas Marg, Civil Lines, Delhi. The present lieutenant governor of Delhi is Vinai Kumar Saxena, since May 23, 2022.

In 1911, when Delhi became the National Capital Territory, it was the residence of Chief Commissioner of Delhi.

History
The area in which Raj Niwas is located has been playing an important part in the administrative history of Delhi for over 175 years. It lay just north of the 17th century city of Shahjahanabad, adjoining the Mughal garden known as Qudsia Bagh. After the British East India Company established their administrative control over Delhi in 1803, slowly a few large British houses  came up here.

In 1831 Ludlow Castle became the residence of the then-highest Brirish official in Delhi, the resident or political agent of the Governor-General of India to the Mughal court and after the 1857 Indian Rebellion the Chief Commissioner of Delhi of the Viceroy of India.

In the decades after the Revolt of 1857, the Chief Commissioner of Delhi moved from the Ludlow Castle to a smaller bunglow (the present-day Raj Niwas). More bungalows were built in the area, leading to the creation of Civil Lines; the road came to be known as Ludlow Castle Road with Ludlow Castle itself being occupied in the late 19th century by the Delhi Club, and later by a school.