The 150-metre long building covers the entire northern stretch of the Lal Dighi or Red Lake at the centre of historic B.B.D.

It originally served as the principal administrative office for writers (junior clerks) of the British East India Company (EIC).

The majority of government departments were subsequently moved out to a new re-purposed building named Nabanna in Howrah on a temporary basis.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the building was the site of agitations, violence and assassination attempts during the Indian independence movement.

The building has also played a fundamental part in shaping the history of the immediate region, as the village of Kalikata became British Calcutta and finally Kolkata.

From its conception, the building was designed to become the focal administrative and business hub of the city emerging around it and was thus built close to existing infrastructure owned by the EIC.

It was constructed on parts of the same parcel of land where the original Fort William, the EICs primary military stronghold in Bengal, stood until 1756.

Lyon may have been a carpenter earlier in England but had established himself as an architect in Kolkata at the time, and completed the construction acting on behalf of Richard Barwell, member of the Supreme Council of Bengal and himself an ex-writer for EIC.

The building initially opened with 19 residential quarters, each with three sets of windows, and was counted as a bit of an eyesore by the erstwhile English residents.

But with the East Indian Railway Company occupying a large space at Writers' being unable to find alternative accommodation fast, the plan was slow to unfold.

The Victorian Era British administration wanted to give a grand and powerful image to this public institution and Writers’ received a makeover in French Renaissance style with the parapet being put in place and edifying statues[2] sculpted by William Frederick Woodington lining the terrace, installed in 1883.

[2][3] Since 1947: Further expansion & Centre of West Bengal politics At the time of India's independence, the building had a large courtyard with seven blocks.

[7][8] In February 2014, the project was stalled after conservation experts and the West Bengal Public Works Department found the plan submitted by an architect firm insufficient.

[9] Meanwhile, a team of Jadavpur University and Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur architects was invited to conduct tests of the structure, before the actual renovation could be started.