The Viceroy’s House, now Rashtrapati Bhavan, official residence of the President of India, is Lutyens’ masterpiece. Lutyens travelled to India in 1912, and explored Delhi, Bombay and Simla, returning several times as he mapped out his vast city plan. Lord Crewe, the Indian Secretary, was familiar with Lutyens’ work in Hampstead. In 1912 Lutyens was invited to join the Commission responsible for the design of New Delhi, given the announcement the previous year that the Government of India would move there from Calcutta. Lutyens sought for some time larger-scale international works, and was successful in designing the Johannesburg Art Gallery (1911-40) and the British Pavilion at the international exhibition in Rome (1911). They were reconciled in the early 1930s, after Lutyens’ close friendship with Lady Sackville-West. Later, Emily established an all-India Home Rule movement, somewhat at odds with Lutyens’ role as architect for the new capital. They had five children, but the marriage experienced a period of near-estrangement on account of Emily’s heavy involvement with Theosophy and devotion to the spiritual leader Jiddu Krishnamurti. In April 1897 Lutyens married Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton, daughter of the late Viceroy of India, Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
He was heralded as a new light in British rural architecture, and courted by such establishment icons as Country Life and Edward Hudson, owner of Lindisfarne Castle, which Lutyens restored. In the early stages of his career Lutyens designed many country houses, often with gardens designed by his mentor Gertrude Jekyll. After an abortive enrolment at the National Art Training School and a brief connection with an architectural firm, Lutyens set up his own architectural practice in 1889 at the age of 19. A period of enforced rest on account of a childhood bout of rheumatic fever, combined with a sheltered early life in Surrey, helped Lutyens gain an in-depth knowledge of traditional building methods and sketching skills.
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