Delhi is in flux this week as new ministers settle into offices in North and South Block and move into their stately bungalows. The buildings they occupy seem so monumental, it's sometimes difficult to remember that they were built only 80 years ago.Though King George V announced in 1911 that the capital would be shifted to Delhi from Kolkata, it was only in 1931 that British architect Edwin Lutyens inaugurated the city's government buildings.Here are rare glimpses of the new city taking shape.



A map published in 1913 showing the two locations under discussion as potential sites for the new complex.



Lutyens and Herbert Baker, who designed many of the buildings, drew elaborate charcoals and watercolours setting out their vision of the new city. Seen here is the Government House.



A drawing rendering an aerial perspective of the proposal and Lutyens’s hexagonal plan for the new capital. Originally, a church (on the left, behind what was to be South Block) had been planned to create symmetry with the Council House (now the Parliament building).



Stockpiles of cut stone await transportation. At the height of construction, about 2,500 stonecutters and masons were employed to just to shape the stone and marble. The use of modern mechanical devices, including massive cranes, coupled with an inexhaustible supply of labour, gave the work unprecedented momentum.



A view of the North and South Block buildings taken from the Government House. The base of the Jaipur Column in the forecourt is wrapped in scaffolding. Despite the apparent mess, the vista along Kingsway (now Rajpath) is clearly visible.



Atop a precarious enterprise, supervisors, engineers and workers appear quite comfortably perched on wooden scaffolding unfurling the Union Jack. The results of their endeavour stretch out below and around them. This "topping out" ceremony was held on September 30, 1927.



A panoramic view of the North and South Blocks with the Council House in the background. Curzon’s "deserted cities of dreary and disconsolate tombs" had finally been tamed and replaced by this solid and inspiring grandeur. Ironically, these imperial buildings were the cradle in which India grew into a mature democracy.



A view of the Counsil House as seen from the North Block. Construction is far more advanced than the abundance of building material lying around would indicate. Behind can be seen the beginnings of a new metropolis.



A 1931 picture of the Mughal Gardens with working fountains before the stately Government House; the Union Jack flutters atop the central dome. The composed power radiated in this picture does not remotely suggest that the Independence movement and opposition to British rule were gaining national momentum at the time.



The interior of the Central Hall in Council House that was initially used as a library and is now employed for international functions.

Images courtesy New Delhi: Making of a Capital by Malvika Singh and Rudrangshu Mukherjee, published by Roli Books.