Ganesh Mahadeo Apte (1898-1985)
 Recollecting histories of Pune’s Engineers and Builders




Many of the modernist bungalows on Prabhat Road and in Sathe Colony, on Bajirao Road, were built by G.M. Apte & Sons in the 1950s and 1960s. Ganesh Mahadeo Apte, respectfully known as Annasaheb, hailed from Haripur, in Sangli. Despite losing his father at a young age to the Plague, G.M. Apte pursued his studies with the help of Kakasaheb Khadilkar, an editor of Bal Gangadhar Tilak's daily Kesari. G.M. Apte graduated with a B.E. Civil from the College of Engineering, Poona in 1925. After working with the Bombay Development Directorate an the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, he started on his own in 1931. Initially, under the name United Bharat Construction Co. Pvt. Ltd., he and two partners undertook works across the erstwhile Bombay Province. When the company failed, G.M. Apte single-handedly fulfilled all the commitments to clients and suppliers even though this meant selling his bungalow at Madiwale Colony, off Tilak Road. He started afresh in the 1950s and was later joined by his two sons, Sadashiv G. Apte and Gangadhar G. Apte under the name of G.M. Apte & Sons. 

At their height, G.M. Apte & Sons employed about five engineers, two accounting clerks, and 15 site supervisors and mistris – the skilled carpenters for formwork and windows, and masons. The firm’s reputation and integrity was such that, according to architect V.V. Badawe, 'clients would just give money and say “You build” '. Both G.M. Apte’s sons graduated from the city’s College of Engineering. Sadashiv Apte had gained valuable experience with S.B. Joshi & Co., the famous bridge contractors, before joining his father’s firm in 1954. He excelled in structural design and worked both as a structural design consultant, architectural consultant and contractor. He designed a number of elegant steel truss and concrete shell roofs for industrial clients and for the Narasinha Datta Mandir temple trust. Ganghadar Apte had worked with Hindustan Construction Co., another icon of the industry, before joining the family business. G.M. Apte & Sons’ institutional projects include the hostel building and assembly hall of Garware College, the Modern Education Society College, Pune Vidyarthi Griha, work on Kesari Bhavan, and the Tilak Smarak Mandir on Tilak Road. They also built the extension of the Deccan Gymkhana post office, Shivpratap lodge on J.M. Road, and the former Book Ganga building on Deccan Gymkhana.

Though they built bungalows for Pune’s high society, including one for the revered Hindustani classical singer Smt. Hirabai Badodekar and one for the Raja of the Miraj princely state, their motto was to build economically without compromising on quality and soundness. G.M. Apte used to say: "मी घरं बांधीत नाही; घरं जोडतो.” They would charge between 0 to 10% on the cost of construction for their design and contracting services, depending on the building’s cause and socio-economic status of the client. 

As a philanthrophist, G.M. Apte offered his services for the rehabilitation of households affected by the Panshet Floods in 1961 free of charge. G.M. Apte was the first Chairman of Pune’s  Architects Engineers and Surveyors Association (AESA) from 1971 to 1979. He was also a founder member of the Maharashtra  Technical Education Society.

Image courtesy: Gireesh Apte, Nene Ravindra R. ‘Works by U.M. Apte’. Graduate thesis, 1979, Pune Architectural History Archive (PAHA): Architects United and V.V. Badawe collections, Sarah Melsens.