Esplanade Row. Right wing of Government House. Entrance to Government House.

This lithograph is taken from plate 4 of William Wood's 'Views of Calcutta'.Marquess Wellesley was Governor General of India between 1798 and 1805. He was bold, expansionist and, as a contemporary account put it: "in no way sparing of the [East India] Company's cash." Indeed, Wellesley commissioned a new government house building without the company's consent.

It was built to the designs of Captain Charles Wyatt of the Engineers. The four wings were constructed specifically to allow the free movement of air around the building.

The Directors were extremely annoyed at the expense involved, and the fiasco was instrumental to Wellesley's return to England in 1805.