Attara Kacheri which means “the eighteen offices, or departments”, originally comprised the general and revenue secretariat of the State Government. The Attara Kacheri was also known in the earlier days as Bowring’s Attara Kacheri or Old Public Offices. 

The credit goes to Mr. Bowring, the then commissioner of Mysore State who conceived and prepared the plans. The construction of this building started in 1864 and completed in 1868 at a cost of Rs. 4.5 lakhs. The work was executed by Rao Bahadur Arcot Narayanaswamy Mudaliar. The administrative offices of the State continued to be located in the Attara Kacheri till 1956, when they were shifted to the Vidhana Soudha.
The Attara Kacheri is a two-storied building of stone and brick, painted in red, in the Graeco-Roman style of architecture – a structure of vast expance with Ionic porticos at the center and at the two ends of the elevation.  

Today, the High Court of Karnataka is located in this building. During 1982, there was a proposal to demolish this building. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in order to save this heritage building from getting demolished. In fact, this was the first PIL to be filed in the Karnataka High Court and the case was heard in the same building which was supposed to be demolished. Later a judgment was passed to stay the demolition.


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