India House

India House is a High Commission building constructed between 1928 and 1930 by architects Sir Herbert Baker and A.T. Scott. The structure features Portland ashlar above a grey granite podium that is two stories high and built on a steel frame, topped with a red pantile roof. The building has a monumental appearance with shallowly modelled elevations, adorned with relatively small-scale sculptural and decorative details inspired by Indian design. It rises seven storeys with a dormered mansard roof and is nine windows wide, following the convex curve of Aldwych.

The central entrance is made of black marble, featuring a heavy bracketed cornice that supports two free-standing "Ashokan" columns with stylised elephant bases and lioness finials. These columns flank a semicircular arched window with an Ashokan lion keystone. The entrance also includes a wooden door embellished with Indian jaali work and flanked by jaalis. The ground floor windows are arcaded, while the windows on the first, third, and fifth floors have moulded segmental arched heads. The second-floor windows have segmental arched heads and sills, and the fourth-floor windows are flat arched. The third floor features two symmetrically placed aediculed windows. There are band courses above the ground, first, and second floors, and a pierced work balcony in front of the sixth floor above a coved cornice. An iron balcony is present on the fifth floor. The façade includes Indian motifs such as animal head brackets, tondi, and a frieze above the second floor, with the Royal Arms flanking the central window on the fifth floor.

The return to Montreal Place has seven bays with a three-bay balcony and an aediculed window above. Inside, the principal spaces are dressed in red "Agra" sandstone. The entrance hall features a dome, and the first-floor oculus-gallery has a pierced work balustrade supported by vaults adorned with murals created by Indian artists. These artists were also responsible for frescoing the dome, which includes a frosted glass lantern stage and a bronze chandelier. Indian murals are present in the main reception rooms as well. Baker, who emphasized the use of Indian artists for the murals in New Delhi, arranged for them to receive special fresco training in London and Rome for the decorations at India House.