This palatial Palladian residence, built in 1803-06 by James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the British Resident (official East India Company representative) in Hyderabad, features in William Dalrymple's brilliant historical love story White Mughals . It's sadly dilapidated today, though long-mooted restoration plans may at last be coming to fruition. If you enter the grounds a caretaker will probably offer to open up the grand original building (tip ₹50 to ₹100 when you've finished).
Kirkpatrick became enchanted by Hyderabad courtly culture, converted to Islam and married Khair-un-Nissa, a teenage relative of the Hyderabad prime minister. The Residency and its extensive gardens became the Osmania University College for Women, known as Koti Women's College, in 1949. Inside the grand classical portico, you can admire the Durbar Hall, with Islamic geometric designs on its high ceiling above the chandeliers and classical columns, and the elaborate curving staircase behind. In the overgrown gardens to the southwest you'll find a British cemetery and, if you're lucky, the surviving entrance to the Residency's zenana (women's quarters) and a model of the Residency building made by Kirkpatrick for Khair-un-Nissa – though our guide refused to venture beyond the cemetery for fear of snakes! Detours does fascinating White Mughals tours which include the Residency.
