Sobha Singh (builder)

Honorary Magistrate, Sardar Bahadur, Sir Sobha Singh , M.L.C., M.P. (March 5, 1888 – 18 April 1978) was an Indian civil contractor, prominent builder, and real estate developer contracted to construct several major structures during the development of New Delhi by the British as the seat of its colonial empire. Not only a builder, but he was also a subordinate architect and part of the Council of States laying the foundation of development schemes across cities and running various businesses. He came to be described as "Adhi Dilli ka Malik" (the owner of half of Delhi) as he virtually owned half of Lutyens' Delhi. He played the largest part in the early industrial construction in Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s, along with being a main participant in the Westernization and modernist collective Indian identity. He was a proficient real estate developer and a Sikh business icon. He also became the first Indian president of the New Delhi Municipal Council and held the post four times, in 1938, 1942, and 1945-46. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in the 1938 Birthday Honours, he was subsequently appointed a member of the Council of States. He was knighted in the 1944 Birthday Honours. He also built Sujan Singh Park, named after his father, New Delhi's first apartment complex, which only had bungalows till then, in 1945, designed by Walter Sykes George. He became a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, but opposed and desisted from any sort of politics.