The planning of the embassy by Edward Durell Stone began in the early 1950s and the complex includes the Chancery, the Roosevelt House (official residence of the U.S. Ambassador), office space and living accommodations and is located in New Delhi. The cornerstone of the structure was laid by Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren on September 1, 1956. The building was estimated to cost $2,000,000 and replaced the former Maharajah's palace where the American embassy was previously housed. The Embassy was formally opened on January 5, 1959, in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Restoration Begins, Jan, 2018
Expected Completion, 2027
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Weiss/Manfredi has been commissioned by the Department of State to re-envision the iconic embassy compound in New Delhi, India. The new design restores the early modernist Chancery Building and recasts the 28-acre embassy compound into a multi-functional campus. The project includes a new office building, a support annex, and a transformed landscape that will provide a secure campus for America's growing mission to India. A new tree-lined central green offers shade, connects functional zones across the campus, and introduces reciprocal relationships between the buildings and gardens. Inspired by India's enduring tradition of weaving together architecture and landscape, a series of cast stone screens, canopies, and garden walls introduce a resilient integrated design language that brings the campus into the twenty-first century. Nearly sixty years after the opening of the Edward Durell Stone-designed embassy, the rejuvenated embassy compound expresses the symbolic values of American diplomacy through environmental stewardship and gives measure to America's democratic presence in India.
