Walking Down Asaf Ali Road: From Mughal Gates to Modern Offices

Asaf Ali Road marks the southern boundary of Old Delhi, serving as a transitional corridor between the walled city of Shahjahanabad and the late-colonial architecture of Lutyens’ New Delhi to the south. Stretching from Delhi Gate to Ajmeri Gate, with Turkman Gate in between, the road is lined with a mix of modernist commercial and office blocks built between the 1940s and the 1990s. These structures now stand where the once-imposing walls of #Shahjahanabad rose, replacing fortifications with concrete and glass. Though modest in scale, they form a representative collection of the many strands of modernist architecture that shaped government, commercial, and office buildings across India during the mid-to-late 20th century.

The earliest phase of construction here, dating back to the 1940s, consisted of two- or three-story blocks with colonnaded shops at street level and offices or residences above—a few of which still survive. In the decades that followed, larger and taller commercial complexes appeared, gradually reshaping the streetscape. The photographs trace this evolution from east to west, beginning at Delhi Gate and ending at Ajmeri Gate.

Location of Asaf Ali Road to the south of Old Delhi

Asaf Ali Road buildings along the edge of Old Delhi

A horrendous later example, probably from the 1990s

Typical 1970s/80s governmental commercial architecture

#Vardhman City 2 Plaza does not appear to have a publicly documented history separate from its location on Asaf Ali Road, a historically significant business street in Delhi

#Hamdard Laboratories (India) was founded in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed. He established a Unani clinic in Delhi, aiming to popularize the traditional Unani system of medicine. While the company has evolved and is now managed by a board and leadership team, Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed's legacy as the founder remains central to Hamdard's