I. M. Kadri

• Name — Iftikhar M. Kadri • Practice — I.M.K Architects • Significant Buildings — Nehru Centre, National Judicial Academy • Occupation — Architect & Civil Engineer • Born — 1929

I.M. Kadri was born in Ahmedabad in 1929. He attended Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and completed his civil engineering degree with honours at the Engineering College of the University of Pune in 1953. After graduating, he married Vipula Kadri a social worker from Karachi, and settled in New Delhi. He has 1 son, architect Rahul Kadri who is also the principal architect and director of IMK Architects, and 2 daughters, Isha Mehra and Mana Shetty (Sunil Shetty's wife).

• Illustration — Nehru Centre Kadri started his architectural practice I.M. Kadri Architects in 1958 in Churchgate, Mumbai. In 1971, he expanded his establishment to another company called Kadri Consultants Private Limited with its head office in Mumbai followed by branches in Bengaluru and Muscat. In the 1960s, I.M. Kadri was selected by Hilton senior management as an architect to build the proposed Bombay Hilton hotel in Worli, Mumbai, and was sent on a world tour to study all of Hilton's hotels around the globe. However, the Bombay Hilton Hotel was never built, and instead, Kadri went on to design many Indian hotels in the 1970s and 1980s, including many Taj hotels built in that era like the Taj Mahal (Mansingh) and Taj Palace Hotels in New Delhi. Some notable buildings designed by Kadri include the Shivsagar Estate, Nehru Center, Ceat Mahal, Happy Home and School for the Blind and Otter’s Club in Mumbai. The Government of Maharashtra, in recognition of his extensive social work, appointed I.M. Kadri the Sheriff of Bombay for the 1994 term. The Government of Maharashtra also appointed him as a member of the Steering Committee on Slums in the year 1981, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority in 1994. He served as vice-president on the Board for the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) formed in 2002 to promote communal harmony in India. In 2016, Niyogi Publications published his book, The Architecture of I.M.Kadri.

• Brighton, Mumbai, 1959 • Islam Gymkhana, Mumbai, 1963 • Shivsagar Estate, Mumbai, 1967 • Jeevan Manek for the Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd, Mumbai, 1968 • Otters Club, Mumbai, 1973 • Happy Home School for the Blind, Mumbai, 1971 • Lake Palace Hotel, Udaipur, 1972 • Fort Aguada Beach Resort, Goa, 1973 • Taj Coromandel for Oriental Hotels Ltd, Chennai, 1974 • CEAT Mahal, Mumbai, 1974 • Hoechst House, Mumbai, 1975 • Swapnalok, Mumbai, 1978 • Taj Mahal (Mansingh) Hotel, New Delhi, 1979 • Kashmir University Projects, Srinagar, 1980 • Nehru Centre, Mumbai, 1982 • Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi, 1982 • Taj Krishna Palace, Hyderabad, 1984 • Tata Fertilizers Ltd, Babrala, 1984 • Kowloon Mosque, Hong Kong, 1984 • The Oberoi Hotel, Bangalore 1986 &1996 • Haj House, Mumbai 1987 • Haveli House, Mumbai 1989 • Sahyadri Guest House, Mumbai 1991 • Owaisi Teaching Hospital, Hyderabad 1996 • Sona College of Technology, Salem 1997 • Breach Candy Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai 1998 • National Judicial Academy, Bhopal 2005 • Ramada Hotel, Dubai 2006