Historical Places

Gurney House – Jim Corbett’s Home

Gurney House

Location: Aryapatta Hills, Nainital

The Gurney House Estate is spread across an area of 1.7 acres on the Aryapatta Hills in the pretty hill station of Nainital. In the middle is a British Bungalow which is flanked by two outhouses – two double-tiered blocks of 13 rooms. The bungalow itself consists of a drawing room (see picture above), a dining hall, four bedrooms and a study with a verandah that runs across the front of the bungalow.

It was in 1870 that Mary Jane Corbett, Jim Corbett‘s mother, purchased a piece of land on the Aryabhatta hills to build a dwelling for herself. She named the place ‘Gurney House’ ( I don’t know the reason for naming it thus, so if you do know, please let us know in the comments area below). This house was later bequeathed to her by to her daughter, Margaret. Margaret’s brother and Mary’s son Jim Corbett lived there as well.

This house was later sold off by Jim Corbett to an Indian barrister, Sharda Prasad Varma. More importantly, the house was sold off alongwith all of its belongings, so you can see a lot of the hunter-turned-conservationist’s stuff in the Gurney House even today.