Cocoo’s Den – An eatery of bygone era
In the haste of post independence development, accelerated by the
1960’s rise of nationalism where modern architecture became the byword
for progress and change, the historic cities of Pakistan were often the
victim of tabula rasa functionalist planning. This looking at hindsight
has had catastrophically infrastructural implications such as the
circular railways project in Karachi and the restoration of old town
Lahore. Large scale monuments of the colonial era survived, but to a
large degree entire residential and commercial districts vanished, when
designations of historic and social significance pinned to a single
building could not sustain the retention of general urban fabric. These
were the precincts that suffered devastation and disappearance. Indeed
today both the cities Lahore and Karachi are largely stories of condoned
disappearance.
Inspite of this a wave of revival stuck strong with the heritage and conservation efforts realization and the retention of some of the areas of value. The intricacies of detail and scale required understanding, and a humble insertion or the grafting of the new onto old required skill equal to that of mammoth achievements. Cuco’s den is no such project studied or otherwise. It is a lone man story, his life and what he made of it, is now translated in his artwork and his domain which is called Cuco’s Den Lahore being a hub of cultural and historical capital of Pakistan has beautifully sustained balance of urban forms from earlier periods; from exquisite Lahore fort, Shalimar Gardens, Jehangir’s tomb, havelis to small scale traditional housing in walled city and gardens to public spaces. Walled city, from where the city grew, gives a significant picture of the social, historical and cultural values and its history can be traced back over a thousand years. The walled city is also thronged by a variety of eatery outlets big and small dishing out various delicacies of Mughal and Delhi cuisines being a significant act of this particular area in today’s time.
The walled city holds commercial, light industrial functions in relation to residential and religious quarters. Distinctive architectural style envelopes the private and public domains engulfing ones senses in the aura of earlier periods.
Access to walled city is still gained through thirteen gates, out of which only two are retained in its original form; few of them do not exist anymore. Walled city was founded by Mahmud of Ghazna in 1027-28. It is believed that the oldest settlement in walled city are the areas of Lahore Fort, Langa mandi (compounds of Tibbi Mohallah), Mohallah Maulian. Cuco’s Den is situated on the periphery of Tibbi Mohalla. Embracing the walls are courtyard houses ranging from monumental havelis to 3 marla houses, markets, food stalls, brothels and alleys. Buried within are shrines, mosques and dilapidated palaces. Only a few structures have been restored by enthusiasts, such as the exotic Cuco’s Den restaurant by the fort. Residential buildings have not undergone so drastic a change in terms of size, but vivid shifts in cultural values, functions and ways of living have changed their interior spaces.
Situated in the vicinity of old Lahore’s Heera Mandi, and lying opposite to the Badshahi Masjid is the famous Coco’s Den, an old structure, converted into a restaurant; a threshold between the scared and the profane. It was originally a brothel and family home of one of Lahore’s finest painters, Iqbal Hussain.
Iqbal Hussain is particularly renowned for painting courtesans of this area (Heera Mandi), dancers, musicians and the landscapes around River Ravi. The walls of Coco’s Den & Café are adorned with Hussain’s intense portraits of the district’s prostitutes —from teenage damsels to age old madams. The paintings depict the life of these women, their highs and low’s and their silent lives. Hussain, who himself is a son and grandson of sex workers, was born and raised in this house.
Cuco’s den is an amalgamation of various functions; residential, dining place and art gallery. Ground-floor and the rooftop have been converted into a seating area. One has to climb a narrow staircase, almost 3 stories up, till you reach the terrace, where food is served. The top terraces being used as dining areas looks onto the vast sandstone courtyard of the 17th century Badshahi mosque. Badshahi mosque and Lahore Fort together present an astounding view at night when both are lit up with lights taking the diners to another realm. From one side of the terrace, you can watch the lit up mosque’s which is indeed a breathtaking view under the tranquil sky and the other side, you can catch glimpses of the windows of the Heera Mandi, gleaming with lamplight as the women take up their positions in the district’s doorways. And in the midst of all this is Coco’s Den & Café, hovering between the desecrated and the divine. Coco’s Den is not just a restaurant with excellent food, but an experience of historic proportions.
In Coco’s Den, you can find a table in pretty much every setting. Indoors, patio, terrace, and rooftop; the menu starts from traditional appetizers to a variety of mouth watering Lahori delights, and topping it off is the great tasting delicacies of Mughal cuisine. The traditional way of using rope hung baskets are used from the rooftop to enable cooks at the street level to send food up without the staff having to physically carry it upstairs. This method is again an old time tradition, oft used by housewives to purchase groceries, vegetables, or just get some food hauled up to the top floors of the house
The Cuco’s façade is an amalgamation of various elements of Mughal, Hindu and colonial features. As one’s eye maneuvers on the longitudinal façade bi partite, a symmetrical elevation appears, seems as if two buildings have been joined together with the help of red lime plaster and walnut polish on wooden elements embracing the façade. Also visible is the non alignment of lintels marking floor levels. The main entrance adorned by a wooden door is marked with dehleez, (a marker defining entrance to a private quarter from a semi public one). The right side of the façade is adorned with bukharchis (long projected wooden balcony, often with a series of rooms from the same façade opening into it), it being a Mughal feature, yet it seems the golden painted wrought iron jailis has a dancing figure in it. This part of the façade seems to be from a later period as a protruded balcony reminiscent of a jharoka juts out of the façade on the third storey.
There is kitsch of different elements; the left section of the elevation has three different storeys marked with various features. A jharoka on first level (a projected oriel or other window, one with an enclosing structure supported by projected masonry work and often supporting such masonry above), basta windows(wooden collapsible or slotted shutters), pointed arched window openings marking the two end of the façade. It appears that the third level which a covered sitting had been added later.
The indoors are no less appealing than the astounding outdoors. The interior spaces of the building are also embellished with original marble tiles. Details have been looked upon; the staircase railing has wooden embracing. In the patio walls are adorned with tiles (a bad example of kashi-kari), the grills supporting the terraces are a colonial feature, where wrought iron pattern was made without the use of welding. Interesting furniture pieces most likely dating back to the early 1900s are stored away in nooks and corners giving it an age-old ambience.
A beautiful statue of Virgin Mary graces the main patio. The bell above it is not only a part of the sculpture but is also used to summon orders from the lower floors. Various sculptures, reliefs and elements have been implanted at various places, making it a busy façade. Because of the immense information given about the eras which crossed the walled city therefore the exact period of the house cannot be identified.
It seems the owner is more focused about using the place as an information giver rather then conserving the place, its period in true sense. This is another approach which conservation agencies might seem interested to study.
Visiting Cuco’s den gives only a glimpse of the lives that lived in this area, in this house, sometimes it’s eerie, feels like a ghost just slithered away or that one heard the excerpts of a conversation which took eons of years ago. It is a world, outside of this world if only one can let the imagination go wild.
Inspite of this a wave of revival stuck strong with the heritage and conservation efforts realization and the retention of some of the areas of value. The intricacies of detail and scale required understanding, and a humble insertion or the grafting of the new onto old required skill equal to that of mammoth achievements. Cuco’s den is no such project studied or otherwise. It is a lone man story, his life and what he made of it, is now translated in his artwork and his domain which is called Cuco’s Den Lahore being a hub of cultural and historical capital of Pakistan has beautifully sustained balance of urban forms from earlier periods; from exquisite Lahore fort, Shalimar Gardens, Jehangir’s tomb, havelis to small scale traditional housing in walled city and gardens to public spaces. Walled city, from where the city grew, gives a significant picture of the social, historical and cultural values and its history can be traced back over a thousand years. The walled city is also thronged by a variety of eatery outlets big and small dishing out various delicacies of Mughal and Delhi cuisines being a significant act of this particular area in today’s time.
The walled city holds commercial, light industrial functions in relation to residential and religious quarters. Distinctive architectural style envelopes the private and public domains engulfing ones senses in the aura of earlier periods.
Access to walled city is still gained through thirteen gates, out of which only two are retained in its original form; few of them do not exist anymore. Walled city was founded by Mahmud of Ghazna in 1027-28. It is believed that the oldest settlement in walled city are the areas of Lahore Fort, Langa mandi (compounds of Tibbi Mohallah), Mohallah Maulian. Cuco’s Den is situated on the periphery of Tibbi Mohalla. Embracing the walls are courtyard houses ranging from monumental havelis to 3 marla houses, markets, food stalls, brothels and alleys. Buried within are shrines, mosques and dilapidated palaces. Only a few structures have been restored by enthusiasts, such as the exotic Cuco’s Den restaurant by the fort. Residential buildings have not undergone so drastic a change in terms of size, but vivid shifts in cultural values, functions and ways of living have changed their interior spaces.
Situated in the vicinity of old Lahore’s Heera Mandi, and lying opposite to the Badshahi Masjid is the famous Coco’s Den, an old structure, converted into a restaurant; a threshold between the scared and the profane. It was originally a brothel and family home of one of Lahore’s finest painters, Iqbal Hussain.
Iqbal Hussain is particularly renowned for painting courtesans of this area (Heera Mandi), dancers, musicians and the landscapes around River Ravi. The walls of Coco’s Den & Café are adorned with Hussain’s intense portraits of the district’s prostitutes —from teenage damsels to age old madams. The paintings depict the life of these women, their highs and low’s and their silent lives. Hussain, who himself is a son and grandson of sex workers, was born and raised in this house.
Cuco’s den is an amalgamation of various functions; residential, dining place and art gallery. Ground-floor and the rooftop have been converted into a seating area. One has to climb a narrow staircase, almost 3 stories up, till you reach the terrace, where food is served. The top terraces being used as dining areas looks onto the vast sandstone courtyard of the 17th century Badshahi mosque. Badshahi mosque and Lahore Fort together present an astounding view at night when both are lit up with lights taking the diners to another realm. From one side of the terrace, you can watch the lit up mosque’s which is indeed a breathtaking view under the tranquil sky and the other side, you can catch glimpses of the windows of the Heera Mandi, gleaming with lamplight as the women take up their positions in the district’s doorways. And in the midst of all this is Coco’s Den & Café, hovering between the desecrated and the divine. Coco’s Den is not just a restaurant with excellent food, but an experience of historic proportions.
In Coco’s Den, you can find a table in pretty much every setting. Indoors, patio, terrace, and rooftop; the menu starts from traditional appetizers to a variety of mouth watering Lahori delights, and topping it off is the great tasting delicacies of Mughal cuisine. The traditional way of using rope hung baskets are used from the rooftop to enable cooks at the street level to send food up without the staff having to physically carry it upstairs. This method is again an old time tradition, oft used by housewives to purchase groceries, vegetables, or just get some food hauled up to the top floors of the house
The Cuco’s façade is an amalgamation of various elements of Mughal, Hindu and colonial features. As one’s eye maneuvers on the longitudinal façade bi partite, a symmetrical elevation appears, seems as if two buildings have been joined together with the help of red lime plaster and walnut polish on wooden elements embracing the façade. Also visible is the non alignment of lintels marking floor levels. The main entrance adorned by a wooden door is marked with dehleez, (a marker defining entrance to a private quarter from a semi public one). The right side of the façade is adorned with bukharchis (long projected wooden balcony, often with a series of rooms from the same façade opening into it), it being a Mughal feature, yet it seems the golden painted wrought iron jailis has a dancing figure in it. This part of the façade seems to be from a later period as a protruded balcony reminiscent of a jharoka juts out of the façade on the third storey.
There is kitsch of different elements; the left section of the elevation has three different storeys marked with various features. A jharoka on first level (a projected oriel or other window, one with an enclosing structure supported by projected masonry work and often supporting such masonry above), basta windows(wooden collapsible or slotted shutters), pointed arched window openings marking the two end of the façade. It appears that the third level which a covered sitting had been added later.
The indoors are no less appealing than the astounding outdoors. The interior spaces of the building are also embellished with original marble tiles. Details have been looked upon; the staircase railing has wooden embracing. In the patio walls are adorned with tiles (a bad example of kashi-kari), the grills supporting the terraces are a colonial feature, where wrought iron pattern was made without the use of welding. Interesting furniture pieces most likely dating back to the early 1900s are stored away in nooks and corners giving it an age-old ambience.
A beautiful statue of Virgin Mary graces the main patio. The bell above it is not only a part of the sculpture but is also used to summon orders from the lower floors. Various sculptures, reliefs and elements have been implanted at various places, making it a busy façade. Because of the immense information given about the eras which crossed the walled city therefore the exact period of the house cannot be identified.
It seems the owner is more focused about using the place as an information giver rather then conserving the place, its period in true sense. This is another approach which conservation agencies might seem interested to study.
Visiting Cuco’s den gives only a glimpse of the lives that lived in this area, in this house, sometimes it’s eerie, feels like a ghost just slithered away or that one heard the excerpts of a conversation which took eons of years ago. It is a world, outside of this world if only one can let the imagination go wild.
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