The earliest history of the construction of Annfield Cottage dates back to the early 19th Century. The property was initially owned by the Indian Financial Association of Seventh Day Adventists, who then sold it to M/S Kanhiya Lal and Bros, a family of four brothers, who were cloth merchants of Amritsar. The sale was registered on 1 July 1920 in Jt Sub Registrar Mussoorie’s Office at Ser No 30, Book No 1, Volume 30 on Pages 155/162.
L Bhagwan Das, the eldest brother, got the sole ownership of the property on 15 Nov 1929. He later sold it to Dr. Prem Nath, DSC (London), Ph.D. (Vienna), a professor of Economics at Benaras Hindu University. The property further changed its ownership on 29 May 1944, when it was sold to Mr. Prem Prasad Khanna.
Mr. Prem Prasad Khanna, s/o Shri Chiranjit Lal Khanna, divided the property into two parts, viz. Annfield Main and Annfield Cottage. He sold the Annfield Cottage to Syed Asad Ali on 03 Feb 1947 for Rs 7,750/-. This property had an area of approx. 4.24 acres.
During the partition, Syed Asad Ali died while fleeing to Pakistan, and thus, his property became an evacuee property. In 1952 in a sale of evacuee properties, Annfield Cottage was purchased by Shri G D Dimri for Rs 1005. The sale deed was registered at Sub Registrar Mussoorie’s office.
On the demise of Shri G D Dimri in 1980, the property was transferred in the name of his wife, Smt Bisheshwari Devi Dimri. On her demise on 7 July 2002, Smt Bisheshwari Devi bequeath her entire property in the name of her grandson Brigadier Ravi Dimri, s/o Major General Sachidanand Dimri.
It took Brigadier Ravi Dimri three years to get the reconstruction plan passed by MDDA, as he refused to grease the palms of the authorities. The reconstruction work commenced with the Bhumi Poojan on 4 Oct 2018 and was aimed for completion by July 2020. But due to inclement weather and the lockdown due to COVID 19, the pace of reconstruction of the house was affected. The reconstruction of the cottage got completed in Feb 2021, and thus, Annfield Cottage stands ready to host you!
