The architectural heritage of Vidarbha is often discussed through its forts, monasteries and temples, while its domestic buildings receive limited attention.

Yet, scattered across Nagpur, Amravati, and Chandrapur stand a few havelis that record how the elite once lived, worked and socialised. These structures, built during the Gond, Maratha and early British periods, reflect changing political power and architectural practice in central India.

They reveal how royal officials, revenue administrators and wealthy merchants adapted the courtyard-centred “wada” style to suit the region’s hot climate and social customs.

Their high plinths, timber galleries and inward-facing courts were functional rather than ornamental, designed to manage light and privacy in a pre-industrial setting. Many are now surrounded by new construction, yet their surviving brick and teak frameworks still convey the character of the region’s urban past.

1. Chitnavis Wada, Mahal, Nagpur

Chitnavis Wada stands as one of the oldest and most intact examples of Maratha domestic architecture in Vidarbha. Built in the mid-eighteenth century by the Chitnavis family, who served as finance officers under the Bhonsle rulers of Nagpur, it forms a direct link to the administrative life of the Maratha court. The complex lies in Mahal, Nagpur’s earliest settlement, and follows the classic wada plan of sequential spaces leading from a public reception area to a private inner courtyard. The front section hosted officials and merchants visiting the Bhonsle capital, while the rear accommodated the household and ritual rooms. The carved wooden pillars, beams and brackets display local craftsmanship that relied on teak sourced from nearby forests.

The inner courtyard provided ventilation and filtered light into adjoining rooms, illustrating how architecture addressed the region’s tropical climate. A small wing served religious functions and family ceremonies, underlining that residences of senior officials blended work and domestic life. Today, Chitnavis Wada remains open to visitors as a rare architectural record of eighteenth-century urban planning in central India.

2. Senior Bhosle Palace, Nagpur

The Senior Bhosle Palace, built in the nineteenth century, represents the transition from traditional timber construction to composite masonry characteristic of late Maratha architecture. Commissioned as a residential and ceremonial space for the Nagpur branch of the Bhonsles, it exhibits both grandeur and restraint. The façade includes long verandas, arched windows and a symmetrical layout that differentiates it from earlier wadas. The structure combines lime-plastered brick walls with finely carved woodwork, marking a period when the region began adopting semi-European design influences. Within its compound, large halls served for audiences and state functions, while inner rooms followed the traditional courtyard arrangement for family living.

The building also reflected the changing political situation after Nagpur’s annexation, as the royal family adapted to new administrative realities under British supervision. Despite alterations over time, the palace continues to signal the cultural ambition of Nagpur’s ruling house and offers insights into the evolution of residential architecture in Vidarbha during the nineteenth century.

3. Gond Rajwada at Deogad and the Chandrapur Line

Long before the Marathas, the Gond rulers shaped the built environment of southern Vidarbha. Their Rajwada near Deogad Fort, associated with the Chandrapur line of Gond kings, dates to a period when political authority and domestic space were closely intertwined. The structure combines fortified walls with residential quarters, an approach that suited a time of frequent territorial conflict. The Rajwada’s rectangular plan enclosed multiple rooms and halls within a defensive boundary, showing a concern for security as well as status. The thick laterite and brick masonry, simple ornamentation and axial gateways distinguish it from later Maratha wadas.

The surviving sections indicate the presence of a central hall for meetings and flanking chambers for storage and rest, adapted to both administrative and family needs. This residence forms one of the few surviving examples of elite Gond housing that predates Maratha dominance in the region. Its existence broadens the architectural narrative of Vidarbha by demonstrating that the wada form evolved from earlier indigenous prototypes rather than being purely imported from western Maharashtra.

4. Merchant Havelis of Walgaon, Amravati District

Beyond royal and official residences, merchant families across the Amravati district built large courtyard houses that reveal another layer of Vidarbha’s social history. Walgaon, a trading settlement near Amravati, still contains houses dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when the area was under alternating Nizam and Bhonsle control. These havelis display wide entrances, decorative doors and high parapets marking their owners’ economic standing. The front portions functioned as offices for grain and cotton trading, while inner courts maintained domestic privacy. The wooden balconies and jali screens show that local craftsmen combined utility with ornament, even in smaller towns.

The architectural logic followed that of larger wadas but on a scale suited to merchant needs, indicating how cultural patterns spread from political capitals into rural markets. Surviving structures in Walgaon confirm that this tradition of combining residence and business in one compound extended beyond Nagpur and helped define the built landscape of interior Vidarbha.

Together, these four havelis offer a composite picture of how power, trade and domesticity intersected in Vidarbha’s past. They link the Gond phase of regional rule with the Maratha expansion and the subsequent British presence, showing continuity amid change. Each building retains elements that reveal not only architectural practice but also patterns of governance and social hierarchy. Their courtyards, galleries and carved columns were responses to climate and custom rather than mere displays of wealth.

The fact that these structures still stand amid urban growth allows researchers and residents to trace how the region adapted traditional designs to local conditions. Understanding and maintaining them is crucial because they represent the few surviving examples of non-religious architecture from early modern Vidarbha. They remain silent witnesses to centuries of administrative and social transition, connecting today’s cities and towns to their architectural roots.