Documentation and Conservation Report of TDF Magnifiscience Museum (2020)

The plot no: RY-15/ 1 of TDF Magnifiscience Museum, located on Talpur Road (formerly known as Woods Street), lies within the limits of the historic Railways Quarter. Its original use was a warehouse building built during the British era. Immediately adjacent to the property, on its northern side passes the railway line; hence the adjoining areas have a series of huge warehouses built and owned by various businesses that established in Karachi during the colonial period. The site was originally owned by Ralli Brothers Ltd. (London) with a 99 years lease. Historic maps and archival pictures dating 2006 and 2011 indicate single storey warehouse structures having pitched roof, built along all four sides of the plot; enclosing a huge central open space accessed by a double storey entrance structure placed approximately at the middle of the side facing Talpur Road. The original buildings on this site matched the typical warehouse construction style prevalent during the colonial period in this region, thus representing this architectural typology in its true essence. Together with the other adjoining warehouse buildings in its immediate vicinity, the TDF structure enhances the historic group value of the area as the warehousing/ storage zone for large trading companies of that time (Fig. 1). Keeping in view the historic significance of this structure in the context of Karachi, it was notified and given protected heritage status under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Preservation Act 1994.

The details of the building are described in ‘State of Conservation Report’.