The Jalale House, a 250-year-old three-storey structure of clay bricks and conifer wood, located in the now-congested Zadibal area downtown of the city is an anachronism of kinds in Srinagar that has gone onto incongruous concrete. Known as Mahal Khana, it has been preserved even after three generations stopped living here — making it the only surviving example of traditional Kashmiri architecture.

And behind it all, the efforts of one man, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Jalale, heir to the house and one of the oldest families and a prominent social worker. Other houses of the era — under the Archaeological Survey of India — are either crumbling due to neglect or have been redone by the inmates in spite of being declared heritage sites. The ASI doesn’t even have an office in Srinagar.

Jalale House, on the other hand, is a contrast. While the lawns are decorated with earthen pots two or three feet high, soot-blackened candle stands hang on the branches of the umbrella tree; they are half-burnt, one might imagine the master of the house put them out before turning in for the night.

The latticed windows, especially around the two balconies on the third floor, are a great example of the Valley’s panjara kari (traditional wood carving). The pyramid roofs reflect the pagoda influence on the traditional architecture. The stone steps lead to the arched doorway inside the house which opens into a corridor leading to one of the three Dewan Khanas. Though the main flooring has been changed but the hand-woven silk carpets from Kashmir and Persia and hand-knotted rugs take you back to evenings when debates on politics, poetry and piety criss-crossed intellectuals, sitting cross-legged along the hall.

The great halls are divided with sitting places suited to a person’s stature. The uppermost corner, which has a leopard skin over the seat, is for the shah nashin or head of the house while the worosi (wooden partition) divides the hall into three sitting areas. Even the artefacts are intact. There is the charka, the samawar, old pottery, silver ware and bedsheets with intricate needlework.

An adjacent room has photographs of those who lived here once. Syed Iftikhar’s father Agha Sayed Mohammad was the first parliamentarian from Kashmir and was part of India’s first parliament in 1952 — a picture shows Mohammad seated in the same row as Pandit Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Shastri and Abul Kalam Azad. Syed’s grandfather Agha Syed Hussain Shah, a prominent figure in the history of Kashmir, joined hands with the National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1931. There is also a photograph of Jinnah and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who had come visiting. Agha Syed Hussain was the last to have lived in the house.

A former managing director of the Tourism Development Corporation, the 65-year-old Syed Iftikhar has memories of his grandfather holding meetings in the Diwan-e-Aam. “The ladies used to live in an adjacent house which is no longer there,” he recalls.

Syed, who trace his ancestors to merchants in Iran’s Sabazwar, doesn’t know who built the house. “All I know is that during one rioting near Madin Saheb, all our property was gutted so we had to shift to this place. Must be at least 250 to 300 years back; I think I am the seventh generation to inherit the house,’’ he adds.

He now lives in an adjacent red brick building designed like an English cottage and there is no saying where Jalale House is headed in the future. Syed has staved off offers of crores of rupees from buyers and suggestions from family members to change the structure. “My son who lives in the US keeps telling me that a brick wall should come up in place of the clay wall, I even tried dismantling a small part. The wall was so strong that it cost me about Rs 40,000 to bring it down so why should I do it? Where will you find skilled workers like those who built this wall?” he says.

Syed has three children (a daughter and son are settled in the US) but there are no caretakers yet. “Nobody has time and it takes a lot of effort; I wish the government would just take over for upkeep,” says Syed. “All I can say is that as long as I am living, the house will be alive.”