Zaveri-ni Haveli, as the neighbours say, did not have a single iron nail used in it and still it stood proudly for over 150 years. But that is a thing of the past. Now the haveli has been not only dismantled, but it is being relocated in Gandhinagar. However, it took over ten years for the state government to decide where to relocate the Haveli after dismantling it from its original site.

Why dismantle it and relocate it elsewhere? State archaeology director D.P. Mehta, quoting from the old files, says that owners wanted to dismantle the haveli and sell the wooden articles outside Gujarat.

Someone drew the government's attention to this and the director of museums was asked to buy the Haveli without the land. Ultimately it was sold to the State Archaeology Department for Rs 3 lakh. Now the problem was where to keep the dismantled structure till a suitable relocation site was finalised? The empty premises of the State Archives Department was found suitable for it. There it remained for around nine years.

Finally in 1994, it was decided to relocate the building to the cultural complex of the state government at Sanskruti Dham in Gandhinagar.

Mehta said the department had many options about whom to engage for relocation work. Public Works Department was ruled out as the work it carries out is usually of a routine nature, and relocation of an old structure demanded specialised skills.

Finally it was decided that well-known architect Ravindra J Vasavda would be engaged as advisor to the department in this project. The entire project of relocation costs around Rs 30 lakh and it includes creation of a surrounding similar to Doshiwada-ni Pole at the new site.But the idea of relocation, for whatever compelling reasons it had, does not find favour with residents in the neighbourhood.

Mahesh Shah, a trader whose office once shared the walls of the Haveli, says it was not a dilapidated structure, though it was some 200 years old. ``There was not a single nail used anywhere in the haveli, this came to be known when it was being dismantled,'' he said. The walls of neighbouring houses got weakened due to dismantling, according to the neighbourhood.

Mehta denies not getting suitable skilled carpenters for the project where work up to plinth level has been finished. But what do experts say about the very idea of relocation of an important pieces of architecture for preserving them? According to one of them not wanting to be named, the concept of preservation by relocation does not hold much weight.

Preservation experts say it is best to retaining original attributes of the structure and doing so at the place where it is located. You just can't remove architectural marvels from their original places and relocate them elsewhere.