Delhi Town Hall in Chandni Chowk will be redeveloped as a Global Heritage Centre after the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) signed a memorandum of understanding for the project on September 20, 2026.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at a programme held at the Secretariat. The proposed centre is intended to introduce visitors from India and abroad to the history, culture and heritage of Old Delhi, while giving a new public use to one of the city’s most significant historic civic complexes.
According to the Delhi government, the Town Hall and its associated premises form part of the historic Chandni Chowk and Shahjahanabad area. The complex was constructed between 1860 and 1866 and is classified as a Grade-I heritage property. It served for many years as the headquarters of the municipal corporation before the headquarters shifted to the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre on Minto Road in 2010.
A substantial portion of the Town Hall complex has remained largely vacant since the relocation. Under the MoU, ownership of the approximately 12,180-square-metre heritage complex will remain with the MCD. The arrangement therefore separates ownership of the civic asset from the responsibility for assessing and developing its future use.
DTTDC has been assigned responsibility for conducting a survey, carrying out a structural assessment of the building and preparing a detailed project report. After these exercises, the authorities will decide whether the project should be developed through public investment or a public-private partnership model.
The proposed Global Heritage Centre is expected to include a museum, cultural activities and tourism-related facilities. The government has said the project will focus on adaptive reuse while preserving the building’s original heritage identity. Its location in Chandni Chowk, close to the Old Delhi Railway Station and areas that receive heavy pedestrian and tourist movement, has been cited as a key reason for exploring a larger public and tourism role for the complex.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the Town Hall was not merely a building but an important part of Delhi’s history and collective memory. She said the government intended to preserve its historic appearance and architectural character while connecting the site with contemporary tourism and cultural programming.
Tourism and cultural development at a heritage site of this scale will also require the authorities to resolve practical questions through the survey, structural assessment and detailed project report. These include the building’s condition, the nature of permissible interventions and the operating model for the proposed facilities. The next formal step is the preparation of these project documents before a funding and implementation route is selected.
