India - Windcliffe

Windcliffe, the home of George Rivers Lowndes, was a house in Simla where Cyril Sladden stayed for the last couple of months of his convalescence in 1916.

Windcliffe was newly-built for George Lowndes on the site of a dilapidated bungalow known as Yarrows.  The old bungalow was pulled down and a beautiful new cottage built on the site in about 1913, designed by the British architect, Sir Herbert Baker.  George Lowndes did not return to work in India until autumn 1915, so possibly the 1913 date is incorrect.  When Cyril Sladden stayed there in 1916, Mr Lowndes was busy collecting plants for his garden.

In his book, Architecture and Personalities (1944), Sir Herbert Baker wrote:  “ …a pleasant diversion from my Delhi work was building a house for Sir George Rivers Lowndes at Shimla. A long, low hall looks through mullioned windows over the lawn and garden through majestic cedar trees to the autumn gold foothills and the Himalayan snows beyond.”

The house is now the offices of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service.