Two proposed Designs for the Front West Side Elevation of a Palace at Rajgarh

Nathu and Shankar Lal began their careers as architectural draughtsmen in the office in Jaipur of Sir Swinton Jacob. An engineer of the Public Works Department of British India, Jacob spent most of his career on secondment to the Maharaja of Jaipur. He served as Executive Engineer in Jaipur from 1867 until his retirement in 1902. During this period he was responsible for training a great many local craftsmen and draughtsmen and involved them in numerous architectural projects. Shankar Lal, for example contributed to the design of the city's 'Albert Hall' (now the City Museum) in the 1880s, and was placed in overall charge of the last two volumes of Jacob's celebrated Jaipur Portfolio of Architectural Details, 1890-1913. After Jacob's departure from India a number of his former Indian pupils continued to design buildings in a manner informed by his ideas and teachings.
These two drawings show alternative designs for a palace in Rajgarh and appear to have been prepared in 1918, by which time the brothers had established their own architectural office.
For a discussion of Jacob and his Indian associates see G.H.R. Tillotson, The Tradition of Indian Architecture, New Haven, 1989, pp. 62-84.