For all this business with the Sikhs and correspondence with the Governor-General at Calcutta, the British Resident had to set up an office manned by British and native staff members at an appropriate place. For this purpose, they selected the building, then commonly known as ‘Anarkali House’. This building, according to the available evidence, happened to be in the area called ‘Anarkali Garden’ on the left bank of the River Ravi towards the east of the tomb of Anarkali. The ‘Anarkali House’ or General Ventura’s residence is said to have been built by General Jean Baptiste Ventura, a French General who had been employed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to train his army. This building, presently being used as the Chief Secretary’s office, became the British Residency in 1847 and was occupied by Henry Lawrence and John Lawrence as Residents at the Court of Lahore and later as Members of the Board of Administration after the annexation of Punjab in April 1849.

The Engineer of the British force stationed at Lahore requested Henry Lawrence, the Resident, on August 4, 1847, for the expenses on the conversion of ‘Anarkali House’ and buildings attached thereto, into a Residency of the Resident and assistants of the office.  The Engineer wrote the following:

• “Rough estimates of the probable expenditures of converting General Ventura’s House at Anarkali into a Residency, Lahore August 4.” 

• “The building consists of a range of low and ill-ventilated rooms – seven on the ground floor and five in the upper storey. These have been thoroughly cleaned, plastered, whitewashed and furnished with glass doors. The two end apartments, with the addition of a bedroom on the south, have been prepared for the use of Principal and Senior Assistants. An Apartment on the upper storey has been roofed in, with the addition of a sky-light chupper for the Resident. A new upper verandah on pillars has been added along the entire front.” 

• “The Anarkali’s tomb adjoining the House has been cleaned, whitewashed and fitted for office purposes and residence for clerks.”

• “It is now proposed to build four rooms at the back of and attached to the main buildings. The centre room is to be 55 feet long, 40 feet wide and 30 feet high. The side rooms are to be 26 X 22 feet with a Verandah 12 feet wide, partly enclosed for dressing and one bathroom. These walls on account of the looseness of the soil require a foundation of 10 feet deep masonry.”

• “The whole building when complete is designed for the accommodation of the Resident, and assistants. A sufficient range of out-office and stabling is to be provided and the existing Ground House and sheds enlarged to afford cover for a company and half of the infantry and 80 Sawars. A mud wall 6-1/2 feet high with an interior banquet to enclose the premises in the rear and with side unoccupied by buildings.”

• “The expenses for these alterations and additions, according to a rough calculation made by the engineer, came to Rs 24,900.”

This is how Gen Ventura’s House, in the first instance, was converted into the British Residency and later became the Secretariat in April 1849, when the Board of Administration for Punjab was constituted. The Board of Administration consisted of two members who continued to occupy this building as their Secretariat for Punjab until it was replaced by the Chief Commissioner and subsequently by the Lt. Governor. When the Chief Commissioner/Lt Governor moved to the Governor’s House, the building became the Chief Secretary’s office and since then it has continued as such.

The expansion of Government activity necessitated the creation of new offices/ departments and to house them new blocks were constructed around the Chief Secretary’s office from time to time. Till the partition, the Secretariat compound consisted mainly of the Chief Secretary’s block, and around it the Police Block, Ministerial Bock, Darbar Hall, Finance Department, Law Department, Health Department and Local Government Department. The only office located outside of the Civil Secretariat was of the Chief Engineer Irrigation and Chief Engineer Building (Later Irrigation and Communication and Works Department). It was housed in a building opposite the Punjab Public Library.

After Independence, due to a manifold increase in government activity new offices and blocks housing the Planning and Development Department, Food, Agriculture, Industries, Forest and Wildlife Departments were constructed at the end of the corner of Bank Road and Church Road. In the main Secretariat compound, blocks of the Home Department, Health Department, and Estate Office were also raised after Independence.